


Born Of Fire

by Pinklove21



Series: Any Means Necessary Series [2]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Character Death, Drama, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Friendship, Love Confessions, Mentors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 19:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 41
Words: 124,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/625823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinklove21/pseuds/Pinklove21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to my story Any Means Necessary! Gale's a Victor. Katniss is a Victor. No more worries right? Wrong-their problems are far from over...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ignorance

Gale's POV

"You ready to go?" I ask Katniss around late morning. We have been in the woods since dawn, but we need to leave now if we're going to get to the Hob before Cinna and the rest of the crew coming with us on the Victory tour arrive. Cinna's supposed to be here around noon with her prep team to get her ready, and I have to get back to say goodbye to my family before we leave. Because Katniss is the Victor of the Seventy Fourth Hunger Games and I, being her mentor and in a 'relationship' with her will be going on the two week trip around Panem as well.

She nods and we walk in a comfortable silence to the fence. I'm sad as always to leave our woods, but not as much as I was two years ago. Since I became a Victor last year, I have spent a majority of my days in the woods hunting for Katniss and her family as well as anyone else who trades for our game, mostly people at the Hob but some of the officials and peacekeepers too. Last year I would be by myself until the afternoon when Katniss got out of school and she would join me. But in the last few months since Katniss came back a Victor, we have both spent a majority of the day in the woods together, hunting for others now that we don't need it as well as just for the sheer enjoyment of being out here.

I wish I could say that we really are in a relationship now, that she has realized that she has feelings for me as well but sadly I can't. She had to all but be slapped in the face to realize that I actually did love her, that the 'act' that we put on that successfully got me out of appointments and have them never materialize for her wasn't exactly an act for me. I know that she never wanted any of this; marriage, kids, or even a relationship in general so to find out that I, her best friend wanted that from her was a complete shock to her. I really wanted to try to make our fake relationship a real one, not just for the cameras but she still doesn't feel comfortable with that. So I offered to let her take her time, not wanting to lose her completely and after the cameras left I have not pushed it.

It was really awkward at first, both of us knowing that we've shattered some barrier of our easy uncomplicated friendship, but ignoring it for the most part has helped. Our families don't say it outright, but I think that they were a bit disappointed to discover that it wasn't real. We still haven't told them the reason they had to lie about us being in a relationship, simply telling them that it's complicated but everything worked out. I hate that we aren't telling them the truth and they are well aware that we aren't giving them all the details, but Katniss and I are in agreement that it will be safer for them to be in the dark on the secrets of the Capitol. Hell, I don't think we know half of the secrets of the Capitol and we've been in too deep of shit already.

When we make it to the fence, we make a quick pit stop at her old Seam house to change into our better quality shoes and coats which are not nearly as comfortable as our hunting things but are deemed more acceptable for Victors. I wouldn't bother but my mother insists and in the last year I didn't want to argue with her because she didn't push me too hard on why I went to the Capitol so much. And if I refused to do this small request, she might have started asking questions that I didn't want to answer so I did it, and Katniss's mother evidently felt the same. We leave our hunting boots and jackets on the mattress of her old home and we go on our way to the Hob.

We make it in less than ten minutes to the Hob and go straight to Greasy Sae's station, where she gives us a toothless smile and quickly trades us two bowls of soup for a couple of rabbits, to which we gratefully sip for their warmth. In the time it takes us to finish our bowls we only get a few teasing remarks, mostly from Darius but otherwise our 'relationship' is pretty old news by now. While we don't act any different than before the most recent Games, it's kind of hard to ignore the reactions that people had to Katniss's Games and our very showy couple moments on camera so people don't question us too much. Maybe they just believe that we don't want to be as publicly affectionate as we are on camera because we are kind of private people. I don't really know, but I'm glad no one believes otherwise anyway.

The first time we went back to the Hob after all the reporters left and the required banquets and balls and such was ridiculously embarrassing. We walked in with our game to trade like we normally did, but as soon as we stepped into the Hob everyone stared at us, effectively stopping us short where we were standing. And then the entire place erupted in cheering and hoots and teasing, much to both of our embarrassment. I could tell that Katniss wanted to run away from the place but she steeled herself with still flamed cheeks and stalked over to Greasy Sae's station, trying desperately to ignore everyone. It got a lot better after that first day-mostly because we ignored it but I have a feeling a lot of it was more selfish on their part. Since can hunt full time now, people here have enjoyed the excess food that us both being Victors brought them because we didn't need it for ourselves anymore so the teasing died down.

Actually people in District 12 are doing a lot better food wise which is good for everyone. Not only did my Victory help by bringing a year of Parcel days, helping immensely with the starving families of the Seam, but now that there is a second year in a row with them the collective mood of the district is up. Our district is beginning to acquire some pride, what with not having a Victor for over twenty years and then getting two back to back. I like it-it makes living just a little more worth it to know that people don't hate us for killing to win the Games, even if it is just for the benefits they get from it. Well, all except for the bakery, which Katniss and I have made a point of avoiding. Mr. Mellark did say that he didn't blame me or her for his youngest son's death, but we still can't bring ourselves to trade with him anymore. I did once, and he looked grateful to have squirrel again, but I felt so awkward and guilty that I never went back even though we miss fresh bread. Is this how it's going to be every year? How many families will I be avoiding by the time I'm done mentoring? I don't even want to think about it; the baker is enough for me though I know that I'm nowhere near done with this feeling unfortunately.

After the Hob and spreading our money around so that most everyone gets a trade from us, we walk to Victor's Village together. I know Katniss hates it as much as I do if not more, but she would never say so because Prim and her mother are very happily installed in the large house there right next to mine. She still feels guilty about having so much money when others have so little, finally understanding how I felt in the last year when she refused to let me help her out. She also feels so guilty about the Games like all Victors, especially about Peeta though she's never outright said it-she avoids the bakery like the plague, always keeping a good fifty feet from it and walking quickly through the square if she happens to have to walk through there. But I know that seeing Prim in new clothes with a full belly every night and never cold makes a lot of it worth it to her.

She also hates it because for us at least, Victor's Village is just another reminder of the Capitol-the worst part being we have to sleep there. The nightmares would be bad anywhere I assume, but to live in that house and sleep there because the Capitol gave it to you for murdering children really gets to you. She still hasn't said anything about getting nightmares or having trouble sleeping, but I can see the signs without her confirming it-dark circles, exhaustion, in a bad mood more often, and she takes a lot longer to get ready because of her tiredness. I would say something to her, give her advice on how to make them better but I can't-I don't even know myself. And I still haven't told her another joy of winning-as a mentor, your dead tributes as well as others who are now dead are lovely additions to the nightmares you already have about your Games. Peeta, Cato, and even little Rue have become regulars in the scenes of my horrid reliving and warping of reality at night. I don't want to tell Catnip it only gets worse, so I just don't bring up the subject at all.

She walks slower than normal back to our houses, and I know she's stalling because she really doesn't want to be with her prep team again. It gets to the point that she's walking so slow that I'm practically at a standstill walking next to her that I chuckle under my breath.

"What?" she demands, looking at me in annoyance.

"You know you can't stall forever-if you're late it's not like they won't find you." I tease her, knowing very well what she's doing. Things may not be quite the same between us as they were before her Games, but I still know her better than anyone. And it's true what I said; it's not like she can really hide from her prep team, because in all truth District 12 is not that big and there aren't a ridiculous amount of good hiding spots to become invisible to them in. And the woods are out of the question even though it would be the best place to escape because we technically shouldn't be there anyway. Besides, I really doubt that she wants Capitolites of any kind to potentially disturb our only sanctuary from the real world.

"They're going to torture me again!" she complains, rolls her eyes at me.

"Oh come on, it's not exactly torture. That's a bit dramatic." I joke. I can tell it's annoying her a little, but it's just too much fun.

"Says you. You have it easy-you don't even have a prep team!" she argues back. Well I guess she has a point, but I don't have a stylist either. And she genuinely likes Cinna so if the band of idiots is a package deal with him, she's just going to have to suck it up.

"You're not going to die from a little wax." I state with a chuckle. I know I shouldn't tease her like this because I'm aware that she has it worse than I ever did in prep, but this is a somewhat normal conversation that doesn't have a hint of awkwardness to it like most have in the last few months.

"Well they might kill me when they see that I haven't done anything they told me to." She claims, but I can tell that she's not so mad anymore, mostly just playing along. Good, if I can put her in a better mood before her prep team gets here then it may be a little better for her.

"You mean you haven't taken care of your nails?" I mock, taking her hand and with a fake stern look shaking my head at the dirt I observe under her nails from the woods.

She rolls her eyes and takes her hand back. "Hilarious." She replies dryly, and I think that the light mood from before is gone. Oh well, I tried. I sigh in defeat, and we continue our walk home in silence once again, a little faster this time.

We walk right to the spot where we usually part to go to our respective houses when Katniss's mother calls to us frantically from the porch of their house and runs back into the warmth of the heated house. What the fuck was that about? We give each other a confused glance, and with a shrug I pass my house and follow Katniss to hers quickly to get out of the cold and warm up in her house.

Once we're in the house, we take off our wool coats and hang them up on the coat hanger, and I'm still trying to figure out what's going on here. Mrs. Everdeen may not be the most sane person (after all, she did check out when Katniss and my fathers died in that mining accident years ago) but she's not crazy. And her behavior is very strange, so there has to be something wrong. Maybe it's a patient that she needs help with? Nah, we would be the last people she would ask for help on that matter. Is Cinna here already? I don't know what that would have to do with me, but maybe he brought Portia here with him as a surprise and she's going to be my stylist for the tour? Not the best solution and not one I would necessarily look forward to, but I can't think of another plausible one at the moment.

"Katniss." Her mother calls, her voice almost in a warning tone. Or is it a somewhat fearful voice? I don't know.

"Don't worry, we're taking off our shoes here." Katniss replies with a roll of her eyes that her mother doesn't see before she comes into the front room we're in a second later. She gives her daughter a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"Don't worry about that. Did you have a nice walk you two?" she asks in a voice that she's trying desperately to sound light, but I can tell by her eyes that she's worried about something. What the hell is wrong?

"Walk?" Katniss questions confusedly for the both of us; her mother knows very well that we've been in the woods for hours. But it's at that point when I see two men in suits and dark sunglasses come in the room, staring us down when I realize something is up. These men are obviously from the Capitol, and that means nothing good.

"More like slipping-it's really icy out there." I answer for the both of us, playing along for the Capitolites. Her mother gives me a weak smile for going with it, but I can tell that she's still on edge. Well, I guess anyone would be if you had strange Capitolites invade your home for reasons unknown to you.

Katniss sees the men and recognizes them from the Capitol, "Is Cinna here already? I thought he wasn't due til noon." she guesses much like I am. Evidently she believes that these men are here for something about the tour or something, but I don't think so-if they were, I highly doubt that they would be dressed so plainly for Capitolites.

"No it's not Cinna. It's-" her mother begins, but gets cut off.

"Miss Everdeen, Mr. Hawthone, please come with me." One of the men orders authoritatively. Katniss and I give each other a quick sideways glance that for people who know each other so well is enough for us to communicate. I put my hand on the small of her back for appearances sake (after all, these are Capitolites and they believe that we're dating) and we silently follow the man to the study in her house. It's a little odd to be escorting someone in their own home, but I have a feeling now (or ever really) is not a good time to bring this up to this guy.

He opens the door for us and gestures for us to go inside. We obey, me going first. I'm immediately overpowered by a fucking awful smell, one I have come to cringe in disgust at since my winning the Games over a year ago. I instantly recognize who is here though I can't physically see anyone from the odd combination of the overwhelming rose scent mixed with blood. Shit. What the fuck is he doing here? Nothing good can come from this I imagine. I stop Katniss where she is by forcefully grabbing her arm to stop her. She looks up at me in confusion but I can't even look, too fearful to even show her how scared I am by the man with that scent who shouldn't be here.

He turns around in the chair he was in behind the desk which was facing the wall, and Katniss's eyes go wide as she finally realizes why I'm so tense. His puffy pink lips are curled up in a smile but his snake-like eyes clearly show he is angry. Anger which I'm positive was born from a fire of my own creation-and if I'm going to burn from it, he's going to make damn sure that many others burn with me.


	2. Revelations

Gale's POV

"Miss Everdeen, Mr. Hawthone, please sit." President Snow demands. I glance at Katniss and we share a look that says a thousand things that can be summed up in mostly one word; shit.

We warily walk over to the two chairs in front of the desk that Snow is behind and tentatively pull them out and sit down. My eyes never leave the man behind the desk, attempting to figure out exactly why he is here and what he's going to say. It can't possibly be good-I don't think he ever leaves the Capitol so if he's here, in person, it's important and it's bad. Well, bad for us anyway.

The three of us sit there in a pregnant silence for a minute, Snow studying us as if he is trying to decide on how to begin. I put on an expression of innocence as good as I can muster while attempting to keep the fear at bay, the panic that I'm going through internally from coming out. While I am admittedly a bit terrified of this man and all he can do despite all the things I have done that pretends otherwise, I don't want him to know it. Or Katniss for that matter; she's well aware that I despise the man, but playing with this fire is dangerous and I have to go about it extremely carefully. If one of us is going to get burned by it, I would rather it be me. And it will be a lot better for her to take if she thinks I'm going down fighting, not scared like a six year old.

"I think this will go a lot smoother if we agree not to lie to each other." Snow begins, "What do you think?"

After a pause, Katniss replies in a voice much steadier than I could have pulled off at the moment, "Yes, I think that would save time."

"Mr. Hawthorne?" Snow asks. I nod in agreement, not trusting my own voice right now-I'm such a chicken. This smallish sixteen year old girl beside me can talk to this man like it's not a huge fucking deal that he's here and I'm afraid of him. I'm actually glad that we're being honest though because I don't like ambiguous threats-I would rather know where all the cards are, plain and out in the open.

"Good. Do you two know why we are here?" he asks. Katniss shakes her head no, but I stay still, simply staring him down with a hard look. I have a feeling that I might know, but I'm not for sure.

Snow evidently notices my lack of response, "Mr. Hawthorne, do you know why I'm here?" he asks. He keeps the surprise out of his voice pretty well but I can tell by his eyes that he's a bit shocked that I have guessed. Well, I'm still not positive, but I have a bad feeling that it has something to do with me, and what I did in the most recent Hunger Games.

"I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with me." I guess vaguely. I'm not going to outright say anything like because you know about me going against the no appointments during the Games, or hey by the way I did everything to pull one over on you just in case he didn't actually know about it. I agreed to be honest, but I never said that I would tell the whole truth.

"A very astute guess." Snow acknowledges, "I am here because of what you have done in the most recent Hunger Games. Namely, your fabricating a romantic relationship with evidence 'discovered' at moments too helpful to be a coincidence with the motivation of stopping the required appointments for yourself and Miss Everdeen."

Well done-I'm actually sort of impressed that he knows that much as much as I hate to admit it. "Yes that's true." I admit easily to Katniss's astonishment. Well we agreed to be truthful and he knows anyway; no use hiding it.

"Then what are you here for?" she questions Snow. He doesn't seem like the type to brag about his knowledge and he wouldn't come all the way here just to tell us. But I'm curious too. Why is he here?

"Miss Everdeen, I am here because you two believe that you can do this without consequences. I must admit, you two played it pretty well. You have the country convinced that you are in love, but not me."

"But I didn't know anything before the Games, or during it." Katniss claims innocently.

"I believe you. That is precisely why I told Seneca Crane to approve the cupcake that your revenge seeking fellow tribute received from his mentor." Snow reveals and my eyes go wide with shock. Shit. Seneca Crane told me that he approved the gift, but I didn't realize that he could have been forced to. Enobaria was right after all, though I doubt she knew it. And if he was testing her then…

"You never believed it." I state in the middle of my revelation. Why did he let it play out so long? What was the point?

"You almost had me, but no. I don't believe that your feelings are false Mr. Hawthone, but I do believe Miss Everdeen's are. I had the note sent into the Games to reveal if she was aware of what was going on or not."

"So why is she here? If it's me you want then she doesn't need to be here." I argue, exasperated. I'm responsible for most of this, I'll admit it-especially if I can somehow get Katniss out of this mess.

"Miss Everdeen is here because while she had no knowledge of what you were doing, she did go along with it. And you two have evidently dropped the act once the cameras left, which makes me look like a fool for allowing you to get away with it. And I will not be made a fool." he replies, the last line with a distinct air of threat and warning. Fuck, I didn't think about that effect of letting her take her time and not pushing her. We should have at least kept it up in the district. How could I have been so fucking naïve as to think we were in the clear so quickly without someone checking up on us?

"But no one knows about the appointments outside of the Capitol." Katniss points out, "You can't appear foolish if no one knows the truth." Yes she's right. If Snow were to appear to be played in the first place, then he would have to reveal to the rest of Panem about the appointments that popular Victors are required to do to keep those they love safe. And I'm certain that he would never do that, because he would not only look foolish being underhanded by a couple of teenagers, but there would be outrage in the districts at the appointments. And to punish us he wouldn't be able to force us to do appointments for almost the same reason. If Snow were to reveal that our relationship was fake, then the Capitolites wouldn't want appointments with us in the anyway and they might start asking questions as to why we did it. So I'm pretty sure that we are still safe from appointments no matter how pissed Snow is. But that doesn't mean that he still can't punish us for it.

"While that may be true, you two still have put me in a foolish position in my and my advisors eyes. Which means that you will have to be punished for it." Snow says, "And if I were you, I would think hard about going against what I tell you to do. After all, you wouldn't want some accident to fall upon your families, would you?"

Well played asshole. He knows as well as we do that he can't make us do appointments but he can still threaten us with our families' lives. It makes me sick that he can talk about death so nonchalantly. Well, he's probably well aware that we will agree without fighting too hard and he has us caught, but still.

"Please leave them out of this. They shouldn't be punished for something we did." Katniss almost pleads in a low voice, though I know it's going to be in vain as well as she does.

"Do you see another option, Miss Everdeen?" Snow asks her curiously, almost amused by her pleading. She looks at me beseeching help, because she can't think of one. But I can.

"Why not kill me instead? I think that would solve your problem." I offer as an alternative. Not a good solution because living is kind of the point, but it's better than our families taking the hit. Katniss looks at me in horror, clearly not liking the idea at all. Well, if it's me or our families, I would rather I be the one to die since I sort of brought this upon us.

"An excellent thought, but one I cannot do. Your relationship is too popular with the Capitol and the rest of Panem at the moment-if I were to end it or leave Miss Everdeen heartbroken, then that would just fuel the flames of rebellion seeing as they would be suspicious as to why you died so suddenly in your youth. People would begin to question me." Snow declares and shakes his head, "That would create more problems than it solved." Well I guess he has a point-he can't afford to kill me as much as he would appear to like to just to solve his issues. But a rebellion huh? Maybe I could have helped end this shit if that happened. I'm sort of pissed that he thought of that because if he went through with that option he wouldn't have seen his downfall coming.

"There's no need to kill our families though-they have nothing to do with this and they're innocent." Katniss argues again, desperate for anything she can do to keep Prim and her mother out of this mess.

"Yeah, why don't you punish the ones responsible? We'll take the blame." I agree, wanting to keep my own family out of this at all costs. He may not be able to kill us, but he can do a lot that doesn't have to harm our families.

"Oh don't worry that is the intent. Your families' involvement is simply to make you do what I ask." Snow replies, "And don't worry, others involved have already been punished."

"What?" I ask, confused at his revelation. Haymitch seems fine to me. Or at least he was yesterday. Plus what's the point of punishing that drunken bum? Sure he's crazy smart, but he doesn't act it around people other than Victors and he doesn't have a family or anyone to threaten. And for all Snow knows, I was the one who told Haymitch what to do and not the other way around. I was the one with the motive here, not Haymitch.

"Yes, if your manager was smart enough to keep to his own business and not help you he would have been better off. But he paid for his poor decisions in full. Do you know what I mean Mr. Hawthorne?" Snow glares at me. I nod solemnly as my face drains of color, filled with dread and guilt in an instant. I can't believe he killed Jullus. Jullus, who for being a Capitolite, for being a manager of appointments, genuinely liked me and helped me in so many ways. Who probably was well aware what he was doing was dangerous for him, and did it anyway. I can't help but feel responsible for his death even if I know that he did it of his own conscious. I can't believe Snow actually killed someone I knew for this cause already-it sobers me instantly, and I'm desperate to make sure that this doesn't happen again, especially to someone I'm even closer to.

"Very well then. Now to what I wish for you two to do. Since you have pulled off this romance so well, I would like you to continue it and do whatever I ask of it." Snow declares.

"Like what? Be entertainment for Panem?" I ask, still trying to recover from the news of Jullus's death so it comes out a bit more uncertain than I would have liked it to.

"Precisely. In short, if I ask you to dance, you dance. If I ask you to have a fight and make up on television, then you do just that. Whatever I ask of you two is what you will do, or you know the consequences." Snow demands. Really? He wants to use us to entertain the Capitol to his own rhythm, and we don't even have a say in it? I mean it's slightly better than dying, but in all but name we are still going to have to be good little slaves, just in a different way than Victors that do appointments. And he's well aware that we will have to be his fucking puppets because we will not even consider going against it if our families' lives are on the line. I thought I was done being a slave-guess the sneaky bastard is smart enough to find a way around our plans. I really fucking wish he wasn't.

"Is that it? Play along and you leave our families' be?" Katniss asks, almost relieved that it isn't something worse. Well what did she think it would be? He can't kill us and he can't reveal what we did for his own sake, so there's not much left. Only torturing us and entertainment. And to be honest, I'd rather be a puppet than be whipped or electrocuted. At least a puppet has a chance of breaking free with very little physical damage.

"No, I don't want you to simply play along Miss Everdeen-I want it to be more." Snow answers her.

"More?" she questions.

"Yes, I want it to be real. I want it to look real, and therefore since you two have used romance before for others matters, I want it to be the truth." declares Snow.

"So what? You want us to really be dating?" I ask just to clarify. Not that I'm against the idea because I want it anyway, but I would rather Katniss want to be with me for me, not to save her family from a sure death. Plus our relationship has been better-it will be much harder to fake it for her since she's aware that my feelings are real and I know as well as she does that hers aren't the same.

"Yes, that's part of it." he concedes, "But I want more than that; I want the love to be real. Which means that you Miss Everdeen have a ways to go."

Katniss's face almost drains, and I can see her desperately trying to hide her fear from not just Snow but me. Really? Would it really be that horrible for her to love me? Am I that fucking abrasive to her? I mean I know she never wanted any of this, but come on.

"So that's it? Convince the country of my love and our families' are safe?" she questions, and I can tell that she's trying hard not to bite her lip.

"It's not enough. I want you to go a step further if you wish to keep your loved ones safe." Snow claims.

"What?" she asks in a confused tone. Snow stands up from his seat and stares her down, "Convice me." he states simply and exits the room.


	3. Reluctance

Gale's POV

As we hear the door shut and the President leaves, I'm still reluctant to look at Katniss. We both know what President Snow's visit implies, and it's actually what I want anyway. But not in this way. Not when she's only doing it to save our families. Not when she has to force herself to love me when she clearly doesn't want to. And honestly, I think that hits me harder than Snow just did. So I look straight forward, blatantly ignoring the tension and the presence next to me which I can feel staring at me, willing me to look at her. I'm being stubborn I know, but that doesn't stop me from studying the wall in front of me with the decorative pictures no one in this house would ever choose on their own to put here. I stare in silence for what could be a moment or a year in the same spot so that my vision is getting hazy because I think I forget to blink.

It's not until I feel a tentative hand on mine which pulls me out of my trance that I finally look at her. I find her watching me with pleading, apologetic eyes and biting her bottom lip. She seems a bit surprised to see how hurt and angry I am.

"Gale…I…um." She begins croaking out, but I stop her.

"What do you want me to say Katniss? That I wanted this?" I question in a low voice.

"Don't you?" she asks, astonished.

"No. Not like this." I reply, "He's forcing you and that's not what I wanted. It's why I gave you time in the first place. It won't be real if it's forced."

"Well I didn't ask for this in case you didn't remember." she argues back. It's true, she didn't ask for any of what I did during her Games. In fact I practically gave her no choice, but I'm not going to bring that up now.

"I did what I had to do. And trust me, appointments are not a better alternative." I almost seethe. I can't believe we're fighting-we never fight. At all. But I guess this has been building up ever since she won the Games. And all the awkwardness, tension, and hidden anger at each other has obviously come to the surface thanks to President Snow's visit, and there's no going back now.

"Well then maybe you shouldn't have hidden them from me in the first place. You lied to me for a whole year for what? Nothing. If I had known, then maybe I could have helped with that." she half yells back. I should have known that she was still keeping a grudge for that. She had agreed to play along way too quickly for such an unforgiving person, so I should have known she was bottling it up for later.

"I lied because I was protecting you." I argue back, "And really, how could you have helped me? The Capitol is not something you can go against lightly."

"Well I don't know, but evidently we have the Capitol on our asses anyway!" she points out angrily. Well she must be really angry if she's cursing out loud. But really, I'm past the point of caring.

"In case you haven't noticed, even Snow knows that I don't have to do anything drastic except go along with it because it's real for me. It's you he has the problem with." I declare, crossing my arms in front of me.

"Me? Well we wouldn't be here in the first place if it wasn't for you. I just…I-" she says, but I cut her off again.

"You just what? Can't love me? Am I that horrible to you?" I try to bite back, but unfortunately my voice starts to crack at the end and she can clearly see the hurt there.

"No I just…if you would just help me then" she states a little guilty.

"I can't help you here Katniss." I claim.

She looks taken aback by this, "Why?"

"I can't make you feel anything. That's entirely up to you." I declare, and stand up from my seat and start walking to the door. She stops me by grabbing onto my arm and I finally look down at her, her expression one of astonishment and anger once again.

"Really? You're going to sentence them to death?" she seethes, but I really can't take it anymore.

"I'm not. But apparently you will." I state, and forcefully take my arm back and stalk out the door and into the winter air, trying hard to ignore the picture of Katniss's hurt and shock when I said that to her. Yeah it was mean, and hurtful. Yeah it's not exactly her fault and I know I'm to blame for a lot of this. But I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was left over anger from finding out Jullus was killed. Or Snow forcing this upon us, making me be a good little slave again though in a different way. Or maybe it was because after giving her time and telling her I loved her, she still can't seem to let go of her stance on relationships or anything pained me so much, hitting me right in the heart that I couldn't take it anymore. I could say that I don't think she cares for me, but I know that's a lie without asking her. I guess something in me just snapped. I should go apologize, but I'm still miffed and cross so I think it's best to just let both of us cool off for now. It's not like we can escape each other on the train too well over the next two weeks so we will have to deal with it later. But for now, I have important things to do.

The first thing I do though not the top priority is go visit Haymitch. For one, I need to make sure he's up and somewhat decent before the cameras arrive to film us going to the train for the tour. Besides, I need to tell him of Snow's little visit and see what he thinks it means for us. I also need to give him the news about Jullus. He may be a crazy smart guy, but I don't think that it was common knowledge what Snow told me. Though something tells me that Haymitch doesn't need something to be common knowledge to know it, but I don't know how he gets information. Best to just tell him what I know and see how he reacts.

I walk right into Haymitch's house and I'm immediately hit with another overwhelmingly disgusting smell, though this one I have no fear or abrasion to other than the fact that it really does smell awful. It's the scent of Haymitch's home, somewhere between body odor, a distinct air of alcohol, and trash. I find him in the kitchen leaned over on the table, clutching a bottle of alcohol in one hand and in his hidden hand is what I'm certain is the knife that he keeps on him at all times. Not wanting to get too close to that knife because it's not in the plans today to get injured (which would mean that I would have to go back to the Everdeens to get fixed up and I really don't want to go back there so soon), I find an alarm clock in the room next door and bring it back, setting it for a minute later and placing it right by Haymitch's ear before stepping back. The alarm goes off and he wakes in a half panic, knife up and ready to fight. When he sees it's just me, he relaxes and takes a long swig from his bottle.

"What do you want kid?" he demands.

"You told me to wake you up for the tour." I reply, though he asked no such thing and we both know it. But I'm certain there are bugs or cameras in here, so I can't tell him outright about Snow's visit.

Luckily Haymitch is no stranger to clandestine conversations that need to take place or lying to have them because he plays along without missing a beat. "Well at least you didn't throw water on me this time."

I give him a cocky, amused grin. I did do that last year to wake him up for my own Victory tour. I couldn't think of another way to wake him and he actually did ask me to do it last year. He got pretty pissed and it was kind of funny to see him dripping wet and disoriented, but I need us to have this conversation outside where we can't be recorded so I grudgingly had to think of a way to wake him without him being soaking wet. Not that I would necessarily care but I don't want him blaming me for him being sick all tour because he would take it out on me. And I have enough fucking people angry with me on that tour already-I don't want to add Haymitch on top of Katniss.

"Well I figured you wanted to say goodbye to the kids and we wouldn't want you freezing on the way there, now would we?" I reply, indicating to him what I want to do; I need to talk to you and I don't want anyone to hear it.

"Yeah, I'll miss little dollface's giggling." he says, and gets up from the table to get his coat and follow me outside. Once we are a good twenty feet from the house, I begin.

"President Snow just visited us." I say in a low voice, going straight to the point.

"So he knows then." Haymitch replies immediately, asking if Snow knows everything we did.

"I'm not sure just how much, but he knows enough. He ordered Seneca to approve the cupcake to see what Katniss knew and he knows that we faked it to get out of appointments." I inform.

"So what did he want?" Haymitch asks. Like me, Haymitch knows that Snow isn't one to gloat, and he always has a plan. And that plan usually involves either punishment or something you have to do to avoid punishment. Must be nice to have so much power.

"He wants us to be entertainment and do whatever he asks of our relationship and he wants it to be real. If we don't our families' lives are at stake." I grimace.

Haymitch nods unsurprised, so maybe he thought about this if Snow were ever to find out. "That's it then? Sweetheart has to suck it up and you're good?"

A surge of anger goes through me again as I think about my recent fight with her over just that, but I let it go for now. We're almost at my house and I'm running out of time. "There's more. He's already punished others involved. Jullus is dead." I almost whisper reluctantly, somehow making it worse to saying it out loud. It somehow makes it real and it brings back a surge of guilt and a little sadness. Haymitch stops short and grabs my arm to make me stop and face him, his expression more serious than I have ever seen it, "You sure about that?" he bores into me.

I nod solemnly, "Yeah he told me." Looks like I actually had information that Haymitch didn't know for once, because he is evidently shocked and angered by this. I would gloat about knowing something that crazy smart ass didn't if it wasn't such a horrible thing; this isn't a joking matter in the least. After he scrutinizes me for a moment just to make sure I'm being completely honest, he relaxes his hold on my arm and I take it back, rubbing it where his grip was so hard I'm sure that a bruise is forming there. Haymitch appears to be trying to get his face back to a nonchalant expression, but I can tell he's having a hard time with it. Were he and Jullus that good of friends? I mean, I know that they kind of were friends, but I didn't know how close they were. Of course that kind of information on anyone you know would certainly unhinge you a bit-take me for example when Snow told me.

"You know what? I forgot I needed to do some things before we leave. We'll talk later at a fuel stop." He says vaguely, and with a nod of consent from me he stalks off back to his house and I shake my head before opening the door to mine.

I take off my coat and shoes and try to shake off any hurt, anger, and confusion I'm currently feeling as to not worry my mother or siblings. I have a nice lunch with them though I'm not that hungry and I mostly pick at my food while watch the snow fall down outside of the warm home. When my mother notices that I'm not really eating I tell her that I ate at the Hob earlier which is true but I'm mostly not eating because of all that has happened in the last hour. Those kinds of things really make you lose your appetite, though I'm not going to tell my mother any of those things, especially in front of the kids. No need to worry any of them about it-they don't need to know that their lives are still on the line because of me-well, me and Katniss this time.

I really don't know what to do with that. I'm still hurt and angry at her reluctance to love me though I know it's not entirely her fault. I don't even know what to do with it. Us fighting, that's not us. That's the Capitol getting between us-they're to blame for this. Hell, they're to blame for everything. And Snow, forcing me to be a good little slave again-no forcing us to be slaves, just in a different way. Does he know about her reluctance to love? That she never wanted a relationship or anything that follows one? If he didn't, it's a happy coincidence on his part I'm sure. Forcing it on us, forcing her to make it real just makes her want it less, therefore giving him exactly what he wanted-control over us. Making us unhappy in something that should be our choice, should make us happy. And I fucking hate him for it.

I go up and change into better clothes for the five minutes I'll be on camera and sigh when I realize in annoyance that I'm aware that I'll go along with it anyway, no matter how pained or mad I am. I would never do anything to harm my family, and I'm not going to let my pride or my anger get in the way of that. And if that means being unhappy and knowing that Katniss still doesn't want this though she will probably go along with it as well, then so be it.

About twenty minutes later, I'm just relaxing with my family when there's a knock on the door. It's Effie, come to collect me for the tour. I sigh and tell her to give me a minute, and I hug each member of my family before reluctantly giving them one last wave goodbye and following Effie outside. I see cameras set up in front of Katniss's house, and she's on the side not in view of the cameras with Cinna. She locks eyes with me and pleads with them, asking me to please go along with it. I can tell that she's still angry with me and upset because of our fight too, but like me she will do it to save our loved ones. Did she really think I wouldn't for them if nothing else? In response I sigh and give her a small nod, which tells her Yeah I'll do it. But I'm still not happy about it. She gives me a look which tells me she feels the same, and turns back to Cinna so he can do a few last minute adjustments to her outfit before she gets in place. She stands in front of the camera smiling and waving as I come up behind her with a mischievous grin on my face. I place my hands on her hips from behind and squeeze them lightly, to which she jumps a little and laughs out loud at the happy surprise that I scared her for the cameras. I turn her to me and lean down as she raises her head up for a searing kiss, and then interlock her hand with mine as we walk to the car together.

Once the door shuts on the car I let go of her hand and stare out the dark tinted window, hiding us from the cameras. We are silent the entire drive to the train station, obviously ignoring each other until we pull up to the train station. I put on another wide smile before opening the car door, the cameras flashing and half blinding me. I turn around to help Katniss out of the car and put my hand around her waist, pulling her close to me as we walk to the train together, ignoring the reporters easily with waves and happy grins.

Once we are in the train we turn around back to the cameras to give them one last wave as the doors close. Once they do, we both drop the act and with one last bitter look at each other go our separate ways.


	4. Silence

Gale's POV

Once I part ways with Katniss, I go directly to my room on the train since she went the opposite way towards the entertainment room and the dining room. For sure she has the better side of the train, but I'm not about to budge now just because I'm bored. Instead, I take a long shower and lie on my back on the giant fluffy bed, staring at the ceiling and counting tiles. In case you were wondering, there's fifty eight. Then when that gets tedious, I go onto the balcony and watch the country fly by even though it's freezing, even more so because of the wind. But I don't really give a shit, and only go back in when I can't feel my nose anymore and my ears are stinging uncomfortably from the cold. After about twenty minutes of uncaringly going through the drawers in the room, I hear a knock on the door and Effie's voice, calling me to dinner.

I sigh, knowing this is going to be an awkward dinner but at least it's something to do. I open the door to find that Effie has already left, probably either to the dining car or to retrieve Haymitch. I really hope that I'm not at the table alone with Katniss because I don't want to get into it right now, especially since our fight isn't really a publicly known thing and Effie actually believes that we're dating. Well I guess we kind of are now since we both are going along with the plan-pretty shitty relationship thus far.

I take my time getting there, walking slowly and fake admiring some of the paintings on the way. When I finally get to the dining car I'm actually relieved to see that I'm the last person here, even with Effie's stern look of disappointment at me being late. Oh come on, it was probably only a minute. I make my way over to the table and once I sit down next to Effie, I lock eyes with Katniss where she is sitting across from me. It only takes a second for us to realize that we are both still mad at each other-well silence it is then.

Effie blabbers on excitedly through the first three courses, though what she's talking about I have no idea because I'm not really paying attention. I just nod and hum in agreement every once in a while and so does Katniss. In fact, no one at the table is really paying attention to Effie. Katniss and I are on the same page, ignoring each other while simultaneously pretending to care about whatever the hell Effie is chattering about. Haymitch on the other hand, is so wasted that I doubt he even knows what the fuck's going on. He gave up on eating after the first course and has been sipping constantly from his flask, which he refills every so often. I know Haymitch is a drunk, but I've never seen him this drunk before-he seems almost incoherent, and that's with him already being a functioning drunk. He must be taking Jullus's death harder than I thought-how close were they? Not that I would ask him now; partially because it's not public information, but mostly because I'm having doubts that he could speak anything clearly at the moment. If he said anything at all right now, I'm sure it would be slurred or not intelligible in the slightest.

Around the time the fourth course comes out is when Effie finally realizes that no one is actually listening to her. She calls my name with a hint of annoyance and I finally snap out of the angry haze I've been in all dinner and look up at her, "What?"

She huffs and replies, "I just asked you what your favorite architecture style was and you nodded in response. Were you paying attention to me at all?"

"Yes, sorry." I lie to her, "I don't know."

She shakes her head in disproval at me, and turns to Katniss, "Katniss, what is your favorite?" Katniss simply shrugs in response and Effie looks annoyed, taking one quick glance at Haymitch's half unconscious form slumped in his chair before asking frustratedly, "Honestly, what is with you three? I was having such a nice dinner and you don't seem to be even listening to a word I say."

Well no shit-that's because we weren't. Katniss and I both shrug in response this time, blatantly not looking at each other. Effie observes this and can probably feel the tension between us, because she asks, "What's wrong? Are you two fighting?"

Gee, why the fuck would you think that? Not like we're ignoring each other for no reason. I look at Effie and then take a glance at Katniss who meets my eyes. Neither of us responds to the question and we both go back to eating. Effie sighs and says, "Ah I see. Well it's only a lover's spat-you will make up soon I'm sure."

I give a soft snort at that-lover's spat. To be that it would require love on both of our parts, and that's only half true. Katniss evidently hears my snort and realizes exactly what I was thinking, because she rolls her eyes at me. Well, she can't deny it's true, no matter how pissed she is at me.

Effie sighs and leaves the table in silence for the rest of the meal, obviously seeing that we are both being stubborn and her predicted making up will not be happening anytime soon. Once the meal ends, we silently get up from the table and go to our respective rooms for the night. I change into a pair of pajama pants and climb in the large bed, allowing the sensation of silky sheets and the cool pillow to help me slip into unconsciousness. Of course it doesn't take long before the nightmares begin…

I'm in my own arena once again, the normal backdrop for my nightmares no matter who stars in them. I had just set up snares and I see Jacob and Rue come up to me, skipping happily side by side, as young and bright as the day that they died. But their laughter and lightness is short lived, because as soon as they both lock eyes with me their warm smiles turn to panicked grimaces. Soon after they both fall down to the ground choking on blood, Jacob with an ax embedded in his back and Rue with a spear. They convulse on the ground and choke on their own blood as I race over to help them though I have no idea what to do-I'm not a healer nor do I have any supplies.

As soon as I reach them and stroke their arms trying to comfort them though I feel helpless, I hear singing in the background. It has an aura of hauntedness about it, the song being The Hanging Tree, once a song that I connected with my father as he used to sing it in the woods. But the voice that it comes from is not the deep cheery sounds of my father, but one that is the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. I randomly think that I don't hear that voice singing enough, because I know who it is without turning around-Katniss. I glance back at her, still trying to comfort Jacob and Rue but I can tell that the singing is much more helpful to them than anything I can do. Katniss continues to walk over to where I'm kneeling slowly, singing the whole time and never taking her eyes off of me.

I hear two cannons go off one after the other and I know that they are for Jacob and Rue without confirming it by looking at them. Instead, I continue to gaze at Katniss in a trance, who stops once she is right in front of me, finishing the last line of her song with an air of depression before glancing at the two dead children behind me.

"This is your fault." she claims in a low accusing tone.

I shake my head violently and bring my hands up to place them above my head to show her my innocence. But when I look at them, I realize that they are covered in blood, Jacob and Rue's blood. But I'm innocent, I really am; I didn't kill them and I never would have. But that doesn't stop her from not believing me, shaking her head angrily in disappointment before I can even say anything in my defense.

But before she can say anything more, a duet of dark laughter fills the silence, one deep voice and one more high pitched, but both are equally wicked sounding. Katniss and I turn to the noise at the same time and we both go wide with shock when we see the couple coming towards us, holding hands and still laughing. They were the ones who killed Jacob and Rue, and they did it gladly, happy to kill ruthlessly anytime. Hell, they're supposed to be dead themselves, but here they are, alive and vengeful. They stop about ten yards from us, unlinking their hands and crossing their arms while smirking at us. I stand up tentatively next to Katniss, frustrated that I don't have a weapon. But strangely, neither does Audrey or Cato; they just continue to glare at us knowingly, and a moment later someone materializes behind them and places their hands on each of their shoulders.

The smell hits me immediately, and I start choking on the combination of roses and blood, knowing the scent of blood does not come from my own hands this time. Snow gives me and Katniss a menacing grin with his too full lips and I move in a defensive position in front of Katniss, never taking my gaze off of Snow. I realize that the two in front of him are the more physical threats here, but he's the real danger. Snow's the one with the power, the one who can kill whoever he likes in whatever way. He whispers something into both of their ears which makes them grin in delight and he hands them both a weapon before releasing his hands to set them free to kill us no doubt.

Realizing a second before it happens, I grab Katniss's hand and we run frantically away from the gleeful laughter coming from behind us. At some point we run into an invisible wall of some kind and we both smack hard into it, falling from the impact. I rub my head but get up immediately trying to protect her still even though it's practically helpless; I have no weapon and we're trapped here, sitting ducks for the two crazy people that Snow sent to murder us. Why would he want to kill us now, when he even admitted to me that he couldn't kill us? "Because we're less trouble dead than alive" I think with a grimace. If Audrey and Cato had won instead of us, then Snow would not feel foolish and he wouldn't have to deal with us. So now he gives them a second chance to kill us now. Great.

I see them come into view and I almost panic, frantically telling Katniss to run while I distract them. She shakes her head and replies, "Why are you protecting me? You don't have to die."

I look at her incredulously, "Because I love you."

She opens her mouth to respond but all that comes out is a panicked shriek as I am barreled to the ground by Audrey, who has me pinned with an evilly delighted expression on her face. Shit, I really am going to die. But I'm taken out of my panic for myself as I hear Katniss's screams, and I look around to see her pinned as well, by Cato to the invisible wall. Her screams pierce my heart more than my own impending death, and it kills me even more that I can't do anything at all. She gives one last final scream as Cato's sword is raised above his head. On its decent down I wake with a start.

I'm sweating and panting, disturbed by my nightmare. It doesn't even matter that I'm mad at Katniss right now and she at me-it still agony for me to see her like that. Because I really do love her and that takes priority over anything, especially in a life or death situation. It doesn't even matter if it's a dream, I still feel that way. But I half believe that I'm still in a nightmare when I hear Katniss's frantic screams again. I pinch myself momentarily and once I figure out that this is real and that she really is screaming, I bolt out of bed and run to her room.

I swing the door open with force and her screams become louder since I'm closer with nothing to block them anymore. When my eyes adjust to the darkness I see that she's tossing in her bed, alternating between moaning in panic and screaming. I walk over to the bed and shake her gently, trying to wake her up from her nightmare. When her eyes fly open, she's gasping for air and looking around disoriented. Once she sees it's me, she relaxes a little and tries to get her breathing back to normal. I don't say anything while she composes herself and soothe her by rubbing her arm gently as she continues to stare at me, biting her lip.

I chuckle lightly, "It sucks, doesn't it." She nods in response, taken aback by my laughing, "Surprised you didn't wake up the whole damn train." I muse.

"I wake up Prim and my mother all the time." She admits guiltily if not reluctantly. She probably feels really bad about that, taking away sleep from her family though she can't help it. When I don't respond other than nodding in acknowledgement that this doesn't surprise me, she asks curiously, "How…how do you deal with them? I don't see your family looking tired all the time."

I give her a rueful smile and reply honestly, "I sleep in the basement."

She looks surprised by that, and I can tell that she instantly feels a little stupid for not being able to think of that solution herself. "Oh." she replies. We sit there in silence for a minute observing each other and realizing that we're supposed to be mad at each other. But I'm tired of being mad and I hate this stupid fight we're having, so I decide to be the bigger person and end it.

"I'm sorry. About those things I said." I apologize.

She sighs but says, "I'm sorry too. I hate fighting like this."

"Me too." I agree easily. Now that we're alright again our silence isn't so weighted, but I can feel the tiredness creeping up on me again. I'm about to get up and go back to bed when Katniss questions, "How do you deal with them when you're not at home?"

I scratch my head and answer with a long exhale, "Hope I don't scream." It's obviously not that helpful, but that's really all I do. "Some Victors like Haymitch drink and others use drugs to help them, but I don't want to get into those kinds of things so I just deal with it."

She nods in agreement at that. After another silent minute my eyes are beginning to droop so I sigh and get up from the bed. But before I can leave, I feel a hand on my wrist pulling me back. I gaze back at her with a questioning look and find her almost guiltily looking back at me.

She hesitates before whispering, "Stay with me." I look at her strangely, incredulous at what she wants. But she doesn't take it back like I think she might. Instead she pleads, "Please. I don't want to be alone." looking at me so desperately that I sigh and give in.

I push back the covers as she scoots further over as I lower myself into the bed slowly, giving her time to take it back if she wants. But she doesn't and I fall into the bed and tuck the comforter and silky sheets over me. I scoot over closer to her, feeling the heat radiating from her warm body under the sheets and pull her to me so that her back is flush against my chest. I would be lying if I said that I didn't like this, but I don't comment or show it. Instead, I place my arm lightly over her waist and take in her wonderful scent in a deep breath before closing my tired eyes and drifting easily off to sleep again.

When I open my eyes again, the dull light coming from the window that still shows a flashing landscape indicates that it's morning. I don't think I had another nightmare after going back to bed. I half believe that I dreamed that I slept in the same bed as Katniss, but feeling her still sleeping form in my arms and seeing her dark braid just inches from my face indicates otherwise. She stirs awake a few minutes after I do and turns to face me. We stare at each other for a few seconds, not quite knowing what to say before she breaks the silence with an almost guilty thank you.

"No problem." I reply, but she still looks guilty for asking me to stay with her and feeling so weak as to need it in the first place.

I give her a reassuring smile. "Really, don't worry about it." I whisper to her truthfully, which relaxes her immediately and her guilt goes away. Not only did it help me sleep, but I actually quite enjoyed it. Plus we made up last night so I'm hoping things will be better between us on this tour despite how we started it. I don't know what it means for us or how we're going to go about it, but I'm certain we'll work it out together; we always did work better as a team and I doubt this is an exception to that.

I decide to push my luck and lean over to kiss her forehead before murmuring, "In case you didn't notice, it helped mine too." I pull the covers off me and walk back to my own room to change for the day without another word, but with a smile on my face.


	5. Exploration

Gale's POV

After leaving Katniss's room, I make it back quickly to my room to change before breakfast. I don't know how breakfast is going to go after last night, but I guess I'll find out. We evidently aren't fighting anymore, but I couldn't honestly tell you what our relationship is at the moment; somewhere between friendship and dating I'd guess. A step in the right direction, but definitely not there yet.

As it turns out, I don't have to worry about Katniss at breakfast, because she's not there. Effie tells me that she's with her prep team all morning when I ask, and she seems satisfied that our 'love spat' is evidently over. I ignore Effie most of breakfast and concentrate on eating, but she doesn't seem to mind like she did at dinner last night-probably because I don't think she's really a morning person, what with her on her third cup of coffee loaded down with sugar and creamer. Fine by me; I didn't really want to talk to her anyway.

When I get up from the table Effie reminds me that we will be arriving in District 11 around noon, so I must be ready by eleven thirty. That's still a few hours away so I mosey around the train for a while, going in and out of rooms. Last year I never had the desire to explore on my way to the Games, and during my Victory tour or the Games this year did I have the time. In the first I was with my own prep team a lot and making sure I had my speeches right, and in the last I was so worried about Katniss going into the arena that I couldn't think of anything else to be curious. But now I have hours of time to kill, and I explore to my heart's content.

It turns out that my heart's content is a little small, because by my third room I'm just so annoyed with the ridiculousness of the decoration and pissed that all this expensive stuff is bought instead of feeding starving people in the districts that I really just open the door to see what the room is for after that. Around my fifth or sixth room of doing just that, the second the door opens I'm hit with the aroma of alcohol. It reminds me of being around Haymitch, how he always seems to sweat out alcohol because of what he drinks-looks like I've found the bar car. I'm about to shut the door and move on when I hear a grunt coming from the corner of the room. Curious, I walk into the room and I find Haymitch slumped on the ground, legs splayed out and a half-full bottle of alcohol in hand. Lying next to him are two more bottles laying on their sides, though these are empty, evidently having already been consumed. I should wake him up, but I have a feeling that wouldn't be too pleasant for me (or him for that matter). Besides, we still have another few hours before he actually needs to be up since he won't be on the stage with Katniss so I quietly leave the room and go on with my exploring.

Once I'm done with my rather boring adventure, I go to my room to shower and change for the televised event of Katniss's ceremony in District 11. It's a rather stupid thing really-you get flowers and a useless plaque after making a Capitol written speech to districts that really don't care and don't want to cheer for you but do anyway for fear of the peacekeepers. But it's the point of the Victory tour other than the banquets and dinners that are for the important people of each district, just to show that the Capitol is in charge. The Victory tour is basically the Capitol's way of making the districts cheer for a person that is somewhat or wholly responsible for killing twenty-three other people and forcing them to like it. Not my favorite thing, but really I would rather be on the Victory tour with Katniss as a Victor this year than not be on it with her dead. So I guess that makes this year's bittersweet.

We pull into District 11 around noon like we planned, and I pile into a car along with Effie and I'm disappointed when the door closes immediately after me. I wish I could see Katniss before we got on that stage but I guess that isn't an option now. I slump back into my seat somewhat annoyed and watch the district go by in silence. District 11 really is a beautiful place, much prettier than the somehow always gray of our district other than the woods. With it's orchards having millions of trees dotted with different colored fruits and fields filled with good things to eat, it's actually something to look at.

Until recently, I believed that people here had it a little better, what with them growing the food I just assumed they got more of it. As it turns out it's actually harsher here, the whip used freely by peacekeepers and food rather scarcely given just like our district (information courtesy of Rue during the Games from her conversation with Katniss not aired to the public but I heard every word of). And to be honest, I don't know why I didn't think of that before; if they were better off, then they would probably be more like a Career district. For certain they would have more Victors than they do now, which brings them to a total of five in the last seventy four years, two of which are dead. The only remaining tributes are Chaff who is Haymitch's good friend, Seeder who is a grandmother to not just her own grandkids but acts like one to a lot of the younger Victors, and another man named Hops who is well into his seventies. Hops is sick most of the time and always grouchy-interesting bunch they make for sure.

As we pull up to where we will wait for the ceremony to begin, the Justice Building, there is a distinct air of something is not right. That something is off. But as I look around I can't find anything particularly out of place, so I try to shake it off. Jumping out of the car once it's pulled to a complete stop, I bound over to the car behind us where Katniss is with Haymitch and Cinna. Katniss comes out of the car with a small smile for me and as Effie joins us we walk into the Justice Building. Haymitch is evidently drunk as he stumbles around, but since this is mostly normal everyone ignores it.

Since the ceremony won't begin for another half hour, we are escorted into a waiting room that is already occupied with three other people. This is normal, as Victors from every district come to greet the newest Victor on their tour. Katniss gives me a look of confusion and I give her a small nod and gesture for her to go say hello to them. She gives me a wary glance because she really doesn't like meeting new people or anything, but goes ahead over to them with a shy smile.

Seeder gives her a warm hug and congratulates her in such a sincere tone that Katniss feels a little better. She must have realized that Seeder was Rue's mentor and felt awkward going over to her. Well there was certainly no reason for that; she did all she could for Rue and more. Chaff claps her hand with a drunk laugh and makes some joke about Haymitch trying to one up him in Victors. Haymitch finally comes out of his wasted phase of not talking enough to crack a smirk accompanied by a smartass comment, and he and Chaff immediately go to the bar to catch up. Of course, the two drunken Victor friends would do nothing less. I shrug when Katniss asks me with her expression what's going on there, and glance between Haymitch and Chaff to indicate that Chaff is the Haymitch of District 11. This clears up some of her understanding and she turns to the final living Victor of 11, Hops. She puts out her hand for him to shake, but he just stares at it and grunts something unintelligible. She hesitantly takes her hand back and pleads with her eyes for help. I roll my eyes at Hops and motion for her to come over to me. There's no use in trying to play nice to Hops; apparently he's like this with everyone.

"Is every district like this?" she whispers to me once she's come over to where I'm standing. I know what she means by that. I take a glance around the room, observing Hops muttering to himself with a frown in the corner, Seeder sitting in a chair knitting and humming, and Chaff and Haymitch at the bar guffawing over something while drinking some type of liquor.

"Yeah. All districts have a collection of misfits as Victors. But somehow most people get along." I explain, "Well, maybe not the Career districts, but all the others."

"So what do I do now?" she asks after nodding at my statement. I glance at the clock and see that we still have a good fifteen minutes before Katniss has to get ready to go on stage. I shrug, "Would you like to talk to Seeder?"

She thinks about it for a second, and then shakes her head no, "Maybe…later."

I know what the real issue here is; she doesn't want to talk about Rue to Rue's mentor. I give her a small smile and say gently, "She's not going to bite. You did everything you could."

She bites her lip but is still set on her decision. I sigh but I know she will when she's ready.

As it turns out, she probably couldn't have talked to Seeder now anyway because not two minutes later there's a knock on the door. I open it curiously and find Cinna with an apologetic smile and requesting Katniss for some final touches on her outfit. She nods and leaves with him, and I spend the next 10 minutes really just observing the room before being called out to go with Katniss on the stage.

I find her looking out the window of the Justice Building out into the crowd. I come over behind her and look at what she's seeing. The crowd is there just like in every other district, the mayor already on stage on the side. There's also a platform for the families right in front of the stage, one side being an elderly woman and a teenage girl with her hand on her shoulder. The other is a group of six, two parents and four little girls, all petite and brown. They look like a family of birds almost. I also realize that they look so much like Rue that there is no way that this group is anything but her family.

"Her family…what am I supposed to say? They're right there?" she whispers, never looking away from the window.

"Say what your heart tells you. I'm guessing that they will forgive you more than anyone." I respond. If a Victor had any allies in the Games, it's tradition for them to say a little something to thank them or talk about them when in their district. Making a speech is hard enough for Katniss, not to mention doing it for a little girl that she genuinely liked who died in her arms to her entire family.

She sighs and finally looks at me, "I know it's just…"

"Miss Everdeen, it's time." a peacekeeper announces, cutting her off. She looks at the peacekeeper and nods in response before looking at me. I offer my hand and she takes it as we walk over to our places to go onstage.

We smile and wave for the cameras, and I stop at my place about five feet behind and to the right of Katniss as she walks the last few steps by herself to where the mayor is waiting. He makes his own speech to the crowd and presents Katniss with a bouquet of flowers and an enormous plaque that there is really nothing you can do with it. She holds them briefly before putting them down to make her own speech. Once the Capitolmade speech is done that she had to memorize, she glances nervously at Rue's family before taking a deep breath and beginning. She first turns to Thresh's family.

"I didn't know Thresh at all but he was brave. The Careers wanted him from the beginning and he refused, something I admired about him." she begins. Thresh's family, who I'm assuming are a grandmother and a sister look at her proudly, evidently liking that Thresh refused the offer as well. Katniss then turns to Rue's family, "But I did feel like I knew Rue. She reminded me so much of my own little sister that I couldn't help but like her from the beginning. Some may have thought that I was stupid for allying with a little girl, but I don't think I was. She was so brave and smart, easily underestimated but I could see past that, see how worthy and incredible of a person she was. I can only hope that I honored her in a way that would make you proud." Katniss rushes out. Rue's family gives her smiles with glistening faces, evidently crying. They nod to Katniss, indicating that she did make them proud and Katniss gives them her own grateful smile.

Out of nowhere, I hear a whistle-Rue's mockingjay whistle that she and Katniss used to indicate that they were safe. I don't see where it comes from, but evidently this is a symbol for something else at the moment. Because incredulously, every member of the crowd slowly kisses three fingers and puts them up to Katniss, District 12's symbol of admiration and thanks. Katniss is visibly moved by this, but we are rushed off stage quickly and into the Justice Building. She meets me at the door giving me a questioning look.

"You did great." I tell her honestly.

She looks relieved by that, but then quickly turns panicked, "Wait! I left my flowers and plaque."

"Well let's go get them." I say, and we silently walk back to the door that we just came in from. When we open the door a crack, there are peacekeepers in front of it. But that doesn't stop us from seeing past them, onto the stage. There's a man being pulled on stage in overalls, I think the one who started our symbol so he might have been the whistler. The peacekeepers noticing us also doesn't stop us from seeing that man being forced to his knees in front of the crowd and a bullet go through his head. What the fuck?

"Hey! You shouldn't be here." one of the peacekeepers says to us, pushing us back into the building.

"I forgot my flowers!" Katniss chokes out, evidently fazed by the execution that we definitely were not supposed to see.

"We will bring them to your room. I must ask you to leave now." He states authoritatively. Normally I would fight this, but I have a feeling now is not the time. Somewhere in the background I hear two more shots, and that resolves any rebellious nature I had at the moment. I grab Katniss's hand and pull her back.

"We're going." I reply and turn us around to walk away. I take us all the way to the room where we were earlier with District 11's Victors. Once the door slams shut, Katniss and I look at each other in horror and disbelief in what we just saw and heard.

"Oh god, what have I done? Those people, they-" Katniss begins, blaming herself. Of course she would.

"It's not your fault." I state. She shakes her head in disagreement, but doesn't have a chance to protest because we find out that we're not alone.

"What's not sweetheart's fault?" Haymitch questions almost drunkenly. I glance over at him and he definitely looks a lot drunker than he usually does. What is with him? I take my eyes off of Haymitch and Chaff next to him to look back at Katniss. We don't quite know how to put it for them, not really wanting to talk about what we just witnessed.

"Come." Chaff demands, evidently taking our hesitation as the information is something we shouldn't say in front of the bugs or cameras probably in the room. Well, I guess he's right anyway. He helps Haymitch up from his barstool and Katniss and I follow Chaff, who is half dragging a stumbling Haymitch along. We wind through the Justice Building, taking so many twists and turns that I'm certain that I couldn't get to wherever we're going on my own. We end up climbing a rickety ladder that Chaff pulls down from a trap door in the ceiling of one of the many bedrooms and end up in an attic with all sorts of dusty junk in storage. I'm guessing this room has been long forgotten, which means that there probably aren't cameras or bugs up here, making it a safe place to converse. How did Chaff find this place then?

"Alright, what's going on?" Chaff asks once the ladder is pulled into the room and the trap door closed again. Katniss and I tell them about what we witnessed, and they look at us with slight dread at the deaths and nodding thoughtfully.

"So what does it mean? What do we do?" Katniss questions after a moment of silence after we have told our story. Chaff is about to answer but Haymitch beats him to it.

"What do we do sweetheart? Nothin-nothin at all. Just get pretty and pretend it never happened." Haymitch says drunkenly. Chaff looks at him in astonishment and Haymitch notices.

In an angry and annoyed voice, Haymitch replies to Chaff's astonishment, "We do nothin. We're fucked. They fucking fucked us and we can't do a fucking thing about it!"

"Haymitch, you know we can't do-" Chaff protests, but Haymitch cuts him off, standing wobbly from his seat on a torn up chair and pointing his finger at his friend, clearly pissed off.

"Listen here, we're fucked. Just let them do it and fucking move on, you fucking assho-" Haymitch begins, but Chaff cuts him off by punching him square in the face. This has the effect of knocking Haymitch out to the floor, as he was clearly already wasted and had no balance or anything left at the moment. Katniss and I look at Chaff in shock, if not a little relieved. Haymitch was starting to scare even me-I've seen him drunk before, but never this wasted and angry. It's somewhat terrifying.

Chaff looks at his friend in confusion on the floor, and then looks at our shocked faces. He points to the unconscious Haymitch and questions, "How long has he been like this? I've seen him wasted before, but he's never acted like this."

Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks Haymitch is a little off his rocker right now. "Since he found out my former manager was killed by Snow." I state, thinking that Jullus's death was the trigger. Katniss looks at me strangely, but since I can't figure it out myself really I just shrug at her.

Chaff then asks me, "Who was your manager?"

"Jullus." I reply.

Chaff nods in understanding, and his expression grows a little dark. "Ah I see."

Katniss and I look at each other confused, then at Chaff. What does he know? How close were Haymitch and Jullus?

"Why is he like this? How close were they?" I question him, dying for answers.

Chaff gives me a rueful smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes and turns back to his unconscious friend on the floor. Without looking at us, he answers in a serious tone, "It doesn't matter how close they were. Jullus saved Haymitch's life once."


	6. Explanations

Chaff's POV

"What happened?" the girl asks, the newest Victor. Damn good question. Good thing I'm not facing her or the boy right now, because then they would have seen my slight cringe and panicked expression. Shit, what the fuck am I supposed to tell them? I compose myself into a more bored and serious look and turn to face them.

"I don't know. He doesn't talk about it much so you'll have to ask him." I lie again. Haymitch's problem now. Don't know why they don't know the truth yet, especially since Jullus was the boy's manager…

Luckily they nod in understanding, indicating that they understand that Haymitch isn't much of a talker when it comes to his personal life. Or in general unless it's a smartass or sarcastic comment or other important things in safe places. Which reminds me; I need to get this asshole up so he can explain some things. But first to get rid of the kids.

"I'm sure your stylist is looking for you by now. Why don't you go and I'll take care of my buddy here?" I offer.

"Are you sure?" the girl asks hesitantly. I nod with a smile and she goes to open the trap door. But before going down, the boy turns to me.

"Which way do we go?" he questions. Well I can understand his confusion; I had taken the most winded route so that the cameras would have no fucking idea where we were going. It's actually quite simple though to get to where they need to go from here.

"Out the door, take a right down the stairs then take a left. That will take you straight to your dressing rooms." I reply. The girl thanks me and they finally leave. Once I hear the bedroom door open and close again, I shut the trap door once again and turn to the knocked out Haymitch. After a few minutes of prodding, he finally wakes up with a groan.

"Ugh…what the fuck was that for?" he growls.

"You got some explaining to do. Plus you were practically spilling the beans in front of the kids and I'm guessing they don't know yet. Which by the way, why the fuck don't they know?" I state.

"Because we didn't want them to know anything if they happened to get caught." Haymitch claims, rubbing his reddened face courtesy of my punch.

"But Jullus…are you sure?" I question.

"Yeah. After the kid told me Snow told them I had Plutarch check on it." Haymitch replies.

"Well that's just fucking great." I state sarcastically, "What's that mean for us?"

"Nothing good. Most things died with him since he told no one any of the plans for safety. Now we're scrambling to not only find a new leader but to find a new way to make it happen in the Capitol." Haymitch shakes his head in frustration.

"What about them?" I ask, nodding towards the trap door so he knows who I'm talking about.

"We can't tell them now, not when we are basically at the drawing board again. Besides, they have enough things to deal with right now." He answers.

I nod in understanding, "So when the time is right?"

"Yep. May be a while, but they're both perfect for it." He predicts.

I chuckle at that, "Yeah, seems like it. Well we better go get ready."

We go down the ladder and I shut the trap door. But as soon as we're at the door I remember that Haymitch needs to know something, "Oh by the way, when they asked about you and Jullus I lied and said that he saved your life once to shut them up."

"You what?"

I laugh, "Your problem now you drunk ass." as I walk out the door. But this is no laughing matter-yes, Jullus seems to have set us back a while, though I highly doubt he meant to. Shit.

Gale's POV

When I get to my dressing room, I find the unpleasant surprise of a prep team. They squeal when they see me and inform me that Cinna will be styling me for the rest of the tour so that I compliment Katniss. They seem excited about this surprise; it only annoys me. I thought I was fucking done with stylists and prep teams! But I know that there is no way I'm getting out of this so I sigh and let them take over. Oh well, at least it's Cinna; that means I can't possibly look to strange or horrible.

A good few hours later I'm done with the prep team and we're just waiting around for Cinna to come by. He's obviously busy with Katniss (the only person he should be dressing) so I understand why no one knows when he will stop in. About twenty minutes later he shows up with a warm smile and dismisses my prep team. I give him a confused look as if I'm asking why is he dressing me, which he answers.

"Haymitch told me everything. I figured I could only help." Cinna explains vaguely, but I get it and nod in understanding. It's just like the recap; if we look like a couple, then more people will believe we are.

He then proceeds to help me dress and when I look in the mirror I'm pleased to see that I actually don't look that bad and what I'm wearing is somewhat simple. It's just a black suit with a white shirt and a silky gold tie-much better than the Capitol.

"This is basically what you will be wearing for the tour other than the Capitol. Pretty much the only thing that will change is the tie, which will match Katniss's dresses." Cinna informs me.

"Sounds good to me." I state, relieved that I won't be a doll at all-this is almost what I would have picked out to wear myself.

"Good. Well, we must be going before Effie has a fit for us being late." He says, and with a chuckle I follow him out the door. Effie seems to have a gift for making me laugh about her, even if she is annoying most of the time. Good comic relief I guess.

When we arrive at the top of the Grand Staircase, hidden from view of those down the stairs since we are on the side of it behind the wall, Effie and Katniss are already waiting there. Katniss looks gorgeous in a gold strapless gown and her hair in a bun of some sort, the fabric the exact same as my tie I believe. I walk over to her with an appreciative smile and she blushes a little. I'm really starting to like her with flushed cheeks.

Effie calls us over to get in position and tells me to wait fifteen seconds after Cinna and Katniss to wait the same for me before going down the stairs herself.

"What are we going to do?" Katniss whispers to me in a half panic. Shit, we didn't figure that out-what are we supposed to do? How are we going to get through this acting like a couple? It really is kind of boring, going to all of these dinners and balls. The only thing that entertained me last year was looking at the ridiculousness of the people there and making fun of them in my head. Wait a minute that gives me an idea. I give Katniss a grin and a look of challenge, which confuses her but she waits for me to say what's on my mind.

"How would you like to play a little game?" I ask nonchalantly.

"What kind of game?" she asks a little warily.

"Look for the most ridiculous person or thing you can find in the room. Every ten minutes or so we tell each other what we came up with, and the person with the worse one has to come up with a way to look like we're dating to do." I explain. She gives me her own smile and a competitive expression, ready now to get on with it. I smirk back, knowing that this is perfect-we are both competitive by nature. Plus we get to entertain ourselves the whole night and no one will actually know what we're really doing.

It's my turn to go I'm guessing, so I give Katniss a wink as if to say that the game begins immediately before going down the stairs to cheering. I wait for Katniss at the bottom and take her hand in mine before we go to the table for dinner. After about ten minutes, I turn to her and whisper in her ear, "The lady with the hat made of oranges."

She smirks and whispers in my ear, "The man with tight pants on."

I look around and see my pick and then look in the direction where she nods at hers, and I sigh in agreement that hers is better-seriously, is he wearing girl's pants? Guess I'm getting the ball rolling on this game. I start out easy, entwining our hands and kissing her hand. She blushes and looks like she's about to say something, but the first course has come out so we eat and begin the next round. I chuckle to myself Oh yeah, I think I'm going to like this game.

The entire dinner and ball we play our little game, the loser doing moves more and more 'romantic' or 'in love' as the night goes on. Sometimes we play with the other's hair or kiss palms or cheeks. Once when Katniss loses she pulls me around by my hand as if we're sneaking off for alone time just to get caught by none other than the man with the tight pants. Once he walks away after 'busting' us we can't help our snickering at that one.

We actually picked the same ridiculous thing twice during the night. The first time it happened, we didn't know what to do so before we could decide I just pulled her against me and pressed my lips to hers, indicating that when that happened we would just kiss wherever we happened to be at the moment. We should tie more often I think. The second time we happened to be talking to some of the residents of eleven, who were kind of boring us with their talk of nothing but their horse. And when we simply kissed right in front of them in the middle of their conversation, they were flustered and that easily ended our conversation with them. Rude-yes, but at least we got away from them for the rest of the night.

When we get back on the train it's well after dark and we're both exhausted. I walk her to her room and half expect her to ask me to stay with her again but to my disappointment she doesn't, just says goodnight and shuts the door. I sigh. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't have hoped for it. I go to my own room and fall into bed without changing, too tired to care.

In District ten and nine, we basically do the same routine that we did in 11; meet the District's Victors, Katniss gives her speech (though definitely not like 11, as no one gets shot or does any symbols and there are no extra speeches), we go into the Justice Building to get ready for the dinner and ball that night, Cinna gives me clothes that compliment Katnisses, play our game through the entire night and go to bed on the train.

After we get back to the train from District 9, I'm not that tired so I actually take the time to take a shower now and change. But when I'm ready for bed and slip in, I'm still not tired at all. I close my eyes and will myself to sleep, but after two hours of trying I get up frustrated and look at the clock; midnight. Why can't I sleep tonight? It's not like anything in particular happened today. I have to get some sleep because we have an early day tomorrow in District 8…

Oh that explains it; my brain apparently subconsciously knew before I figured it out. District 8 is the district I dreaded going to most last year. Apparently it's still the district I don't want to go to. All because of one little thirteen year old boy that I didn't try to save; Jacob.

Last year was horrible in 8 for me. Not because of the District in general and not because of the Victors, but because I basically blamed myself for Jacob. As it turned out, the residents actually liked me because I didn't kill him when I had such a great chance of doing so. And though it was precisely that which lead him to me with those two Careers, they still didn't blame me because they were proud. But I still blamed myself for not trying. I knew that the Careers were probably bluffing about letting him go, but I didn't even try to give it a chance. Now that lifeless little boy will haunt my dreams most likely for the rest of my life, and I can't do a thing about it. And now I'm going back to his district, back to where his broken family still lives and will probably be watching me on the stage again this year.

After realizing why I can't sleep, I no longer want to sleep. But of course that's too much to ask, and not an hour later my body betrays my wishes.

My nightmares roll in one after the other, all starring Jacob. Me in that clearing with Jacob, but this time I take the opportunity to kill him like everyone supposed I would. I slit his throat and feel like a monster. Jacob, asking me to ally with him when I helped him during training. Me, laughing in his face, telling him I would never do anything to help a little boy-I wanted to win. I relive his death again and again, trying in vain every time to figure out some way, anyway, I can save him. And every damn time I come to the same fucking conclusion-I couldn't even try to save him if my own life wasn't on the line. But if I had only tried, maybe it would have worked. Maybe I could have saved that little boy.

I hear a voice calling my name over and over, a voice I know well. But she's not in my dream. Where is that voice coming from? I feel a shake on my arm and look down to find that nothing is there. That's strange.

"Gale, wake up!" Katniss's voice calls again, and this time I listen. I open my eyes and find that I'm breathing heavy and sweating. I look around and find Katniss's worried face staring at me, relieved that I have finally woken up. I stare at her and she gives me a small grin.

"Surprised you didn't wake up the whole train." she states, throwing my own words from the other day back at me. Shit, was I screaming? I must have been if she's here, saying that in the middle of the night. Well I did tell her the only thing I did to try and help the nightmares was to hope I don't scream; guess I failed at that one tonight.

"I'm sorry for waking you. I know we have to get up early." I state guiltily. She shrugs.

"What was it about? You haven't screamed the whole time and now when we have to get up early for 8…" she questions, but then her eyes go wide in understanding when she answers her own question. "Jacob?"

I nod in response, glad I don't have to explain that but I still feel guilty for waking her. She looks at me for a moment and with some unspoken decision, she pulls the covers down and climbs in.

"What are you doing?" I ask her, confused. Not that I mind in the least but I'm surprised that she's taking the initiative.

"It helped me before. We're a team remember?" she states. I chuckle at that and pull her to me.

"That we are." I whisper, and drift off easily after that.


	7. Annoyance

Gale's POV

I'm sleeping so soundly with Katniss in my arms that even when I feel sleep slipping away and my body waking up for a new day, I refuse to open my eyes. Instead, I keep them shut tight and pull Katniss a little closer, relishing in having her with me right now. I guess I drift off into a half sleep because despite my hunting senses, I don't hear the door open to my room. I do, however, hear the high-pitched shriek in surprise that could only come from one person on this train. I open my eyes to find Effie, of course, trying to compose herself.

"Well…um I was just going to tell you that it's time to get up, but I'll leave you two to get ready. Be out in half an hour." Effie states, and quickly leaves the room flustered still.

Katniss stirs and turns to face me, cheeks flamed and her embarrassment clear. Well I'm not really that embarrassed, just annoyed at Effie really-it's not like we were doing anything. But as we stare at each other for a moment before Katniss gets up and practically races out the door to her room with still flushed cheeks with no more than a mumbled goodbye, I can tell that she regrets her being here. Or if she doesn't regret it, I know her embarrassment is enough that it won't happen again anytime soon, no matter how much it helps both of us. I sigh at that-and to think I thought we were making progress. Damn Effie.

I rub my eyes before making myself get up and change for a quick breakfast. Since we don't have much time I just go to the dining car which predictably has no one in it and scarf down a plate of eggs before I sense the train stopping. Before Effie can come get me I beat her to the punch and go to the door that opens to the outside myself, meeting Haymitch to go into the car. When he sees me, he gives me a smirk.

"So you and sweetheart are the talk of the train. Great effort." Haymitch laughs.

I roll my eyes at him, "Shut up."

This unfortunately only has the effect of making him laugh harder. Since I really don't want to deal with this drunk fuck right now, the second the cars come I get into one even though I know it won't be leaving for another five minutes at least.

As we arrive at the Justice Building, I try hard not to look out the window at my least favorite district. It's not like there's much to look at anyway; all factories. It almost makes me feel sorry for the residents here, because while District 12 isn't much to look at either, what with us having the coal mines, at least there are trees around and the woods to escape to; here, the only green you're going to find is on a fabric made in one of those factories. I dread getting out of the car for several reasons in this district, but the most prevalent one at this moment would be that I know that as soon as I step out of the car, I'm on my way to see the Victors of this district. And even that wouldn't faze me too much if I knew that I didn't have to look Jacob's mentor in the face again.

His name is Romal-a thrity-something year old with dirty blonde hair and almost black brown eyes. He is in fact, the only person I met in this district that makes me feel even guiltier for Jacob. I was already on edge about meeting him and he practically kicked me while I was already down last year. The other Victors got pretty mad at him for being so hard on me, and he stormed out of the room. Cecelia, a kind and gentle woman in her mid-thirties told me that Romal really isn't a bad guy, he was just angry about Jacob being in the Games at all. Jacob, she told me, was Romal's son's best friend, and since he had to deal with the repercussions of his son's anger at his father for not bringing his best friend home, he took it out on me. You would think his son would be a little more forgiving since it's basically a miracle for anyone under the age of fifteen to win, but I would have probably been angry too despite that. I understood why Romal did it after she explained that, but I still couldn't shake my guilt the entire night or the rest of the tour really. I was happy that he wasn't mentoring in the most recent Games because I didn't want to deal with him on top of everything else. In fact, my mind has been occupied with so many other things that I had completely forgotten about him until now.

As we approach the room I visibly tense up, but I force myself to walk in the room after Katniss. All the other Victors in the room smile as greeting, but Romal has his focus entirely on me, frowning and staring me down. I try not to let it get to me, but he has a way of making me feel guiltier again just by that glare. I force myself to not look at him, and resolve not to get near him the entire time.

Time drags slowly here, though I'm guessing that is mostly just my imagination. Since we had to get here so early because the factories are only giving their workers a half day off for the tour, instead of a dinner and ball we are having a luncheon and dance after. Fine by me-the less time we spend here, the better.

After what seems like days but is really just a few hours, we are lining up to do our entrance for the luncheon. Katniss is still a little tense around me, clearly still embarrassed that we got caught by Effie in the same bed this morning and we are now the subject of gossip on the train. Well, I guess we're matching in the tension still, what with me not wanting to be here at all. But we still have a show to put on, so with a nod of agreement I take my turn down the stairs and once she's done hers our game begins again.

I try to relax, I really do, but this whole district just makes me feel awkward that I'm probably doing a horrible job of it. It doesn't help that Romal is constantly giving me glares all afternoon, clearly still not liking me. Luckily Katniss doesn't seem to be having too many problems here, and she actually is relaxing, chatting with Cecilia easily with me standing next to her half paying attention. She seems to have relaxed around me as the afternoon went on, realizing that it's stupid to be mad at me when she's the one who got in my bed herself and I certainly didn't ask Effie to barge in on us. It's good because we still have to convince Snow and it was definitely a backwards slide, but I'm sure the train gossip will make up for a lot of that. Perhaps it will even get back to Snow.

Somewhere in the middle of talking to Cecilia, her three kids come up to us giggling and actually having a good time. Well, this probably actually is very exciting for them, feeling like they're important enough to be at this exclusive party. Guess that's a privilege of being a Victor's child, and they probably are popular at school because of all the 'important' people they know and things they go to. Victor's children also have a far easier life, what with having not many worries and never having to go hungry. Cecelia's kids are clearly and example of this-they are all sweet and cute, and appear to not be the least worried about anything at all. The two little boys, Ryan and Russell, are about five and seven and appear to be more interested in the sweets than anything. The oldest, Lucy, is about eleven and actually looks a little like Prim with her blonde curls just like her mother. Which easily brings Katniss to give her a warm smile and starts talking to the excited little girl. Katniss is so engrossed with her conversation that she doesn't see the Cecilia's knowing smile at Katniss or her glance between her and me. But I see it, and I think I know what it means. She thinks that Katniss will make a great mother one day, and I do too though she doesn't want it and she certainly wouldn't agree. I think I would like to have kids one day too. But I can only be thankful that Cecilia hasn't voiced this opinion, because that would be one too many backwards slides for us today.

We finally leave for the train around four o'clock in the afternoon, and I couldn't be more grateful. Though the Victors here save Romal are nice enough and so are the people, I just simply feel too guilty to relax in this district no matter what. On the other hand, I'm actually somewhat excited to get to our next district, District 7. Not only is the scenery just about the opposite of 8, the trees feel almost like home to me. Plus, I'm almost surprised to find that I'm glad I'll see Johanna tomorrow. Guess I really do count her as a friend now-it's strange for me to even accept that, but apparently it's true.

After dinner, Katniss and I go to our separate rooms, but I actually figured that would happen tonight. After our wakeup call this morning by Effie, I was pretty sure it would take a miracle to happen again-especially with the gossip going around the train about us. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted…a whopping two half nights.

When I wake up, the train is stopped like I figured it would be. But curiously when I look out the window, I can easily tell that we aren't in District 7. What's going on? I change quickly and go to the dining car where there is hopefully someone with some answers. Luckily I do-a frustrated Effie writing furiously on her notepad, crossing some things out and writing in others.

"What's going on?" I question.

"Oh we have a problem with the train which means we're going to be an hour late." she tuts, "Which means we are going to have to skip the Victor meeting beforehand and go straight onto the stage."

"Oh." I state with a frown. Of course, one of the few districts I actually wouldn't mind getting there early for…

"Don't worry dear, you'll see Ms. Mason at dinner still." Effie assures with a smile. She knows Johanna and I are friends? Well I guess it's not exactly a secret and Johanna was on our floor a couple of times with Finnick.

"Johanna Mason?" Katniss asks after a pause, astonished.

"…Yeah." I say back. What other Mason would Effie be talking about in District 7?

"Oh yes dear, she and Mr. Odair were always around during your time in the arena. Isn't that right Gale?" Effie states to Katniss, and I nod in agreement.

"…Finnick Odair?" Katniss questions, evidently irritated. What is with her? I know she knows at least by face and name who Johanna and Finnick are-she really didn't need clarification.

"Of course dear. Oh, well it looks like we're on the move again. I'm sure your prep team is looking for you." Effie replies. Katniss gets up from the table to leave, clearly annoyed at me. What the fuck is she so upset about? About our wakeup call again? That I have friends? Well, guess I'll find out later.

As we finally get to District 7 well after lunchtime, we go straight to the Justice Building which already has crowds of people waiting in front of it. Instead of going inside the building first like we usually do, as soon as we exit the cars we are told to go straight up to the stage. Katniss gives her speech (a bit easier here since both of Johanna's tributes were bloodbaths so she didn't really know them or do anything at all bad to them) and gets her flowers and plaque.

Once inside the building, Katniss looks like she wants to talk with me but she is immediately whisked away by Cinna and her prep team to get ready for dinner. I tell her with my expression Later. and she nods before being pulled around the corner. I go to my own room to be prepped and dressed and I find that I'm wearing a forest green tie, practically the same color as the enormous pines that grow in abundance here. In a way, I think that District 7 is a lucky here-at least their air is fresh and clean, unlike the coal ridden District 12 or the factory pollution from District 8. Though it does get bitterly cold up here for months-a tradeoff I guess.

As soon as I'm dressed, I go to the top of the stairs where we will do our entrance. Katniss is already waiting there in a dark green gown and looking something like a forest goddess, beautiful in an almost enchanting way. I may not like the idea of being prepped or styled, but I can't deny Cinna knows what he's doing. But before I can say anything about it, she motions me to come with her into a corner for semi-privacy. As soon as I'm there, she turns on me in hurt and annoyance.

"Johanna and Finnick? What is that about?" she whispers.

I shrug, "They're my friends."

"Johanna and Finnick are your friends?"

"Finnick, yes. Johanna…well I really don't know what to define that as. It's complicated." I reply back.

"And I didn't know this because…"

"You never asked." I state.

"Why would I have known to ask that?" she almost hisses.

"I don't know." I reply back with a hint of innocence. I feel like I'm almost being attacked for having friends. What is with her?

"Well it would have-"

"Katniss, Gale, it's time for the entrance!" Effie exclaims, effectively ending our conversation or fight or whatever this is. Katniss frowns at me one last time before going back over to where the others are standing with a smile on her face.

During dinner we still play our game because we have a President to convince, but I can tell that Katniss is clearly still mad at me. She smiles and laughs and holds my hand, but her eyes tell me that I'm in trouble. I honestly don't understand why she's so mad. I mean, yes, I didn't tell her, but it really isn't that big of a deal. I was going to tell her eventually that they helped me mentor and such during the Games, kept me sane (or knocked me out because I was going crazy to be sane), but I didn't think it would be such a horrible thing. I mean they certainly aren't your usual friends, what with them both being from different districts and so different from me in practically every way, but we're Victors. Younger Victors at that. We stick together because in the misfit population of Victors we somehow get along pretty well. Surely Katniss could make sense of that, right?

After dinner we get up for the dancing and milling around the room, talking to various people. I still haven't seen Johanna yet though, which is weird. I know she's here because she has to be. But when I'm standing with Katniss and I feel a semi-hard punch on my shoulder, I jump slightly and turn around to find her, with a cocky grin in a sexy red short dress.

"Johanna." I exclaim, but I'm smiling, not mad in the least at her hit. That's just Johanna for you-violence for affection.

"Hey Hawthorne, I'd hoped that I'd see you around here." she replies with a smirk. She turns to Katniss, "Oh, so this is our newest member."

"Katniss." I reply with a smile. Katniss gives Johanna a wary smile, just nodding in acknowledgement.

Johanna laughs, "Aw Gale, you didn't tell me that she was shy."

"I'm not shy." Katniss declares, clearly not liking Johanna too well. Well, it's not like I really did at first either. Johanna's a hard one to understand.

"Really?" Johanna snorts, plainly thinking otherwise, "You're too tame to pull it off. You need to be bolder." she teases at our relationship stuff, gesturing between us. Katniss frowns at that while I snort quietly.

"I could teach you some bold moves. Couldn't I Hawthorne?" Johanna laughs while lightly slapping one of my cheeks. She's clearly enjoying teasing us.

"I think they were more for your own amusement than bold." I grin with a roll of my eyes. She's not one to be sorry for knocking someone out.

Katniss then turns her glower to me, clearly angry at something. What is with her? We were just teasing, and she knows Johanna and I are friends. Besides, Johanna knows the whole relationship thing so it's not a big deal what she teased about. With one more glare at Johanna, Katniss stalks off without another word much to my astonishment and confusion.


	8. Flames

Gale's POV

"What the...?" I mutter in confusion at Katniss's sudden departure. I look at Johanna to find her smirking at me, clearly enjoying something.

"What?" I question her.

She laughs, "Nothing. Go find your girlfriend already." she demands, and points in the direction where Katniss went. I'm really not one for taking orders, but I was planning on doing just that anyway so I do, leaving Johanna with a mumbled goodbye.

I wander through the deserted halls for a few minutes, trying to find her. I know that we probably don't have a lot of time to talk in private if any at all, considering we are probably the most important guests here tonight and our absence will surely be noted. I turn another hall and find her leaned up against a wall, arms crossed in front of her chest and staring off in the opposite direction of me.

"Katniss?" I say softly, to which she turns to face me.

"Surprised you came to find me." she states bitterly.

"Why is that surprising?" I question. In response she just shakes her head, avoiding answering me like I should know.

I slowly walk up to her, and touch her arm gently to get her attention, which has been diverted once again to the empty hall. She turns back to me, eyes angry and annoyed.

"What is it?" I ask, more seriously. Is she hurt or something?

"Why do you care? Don't you have another girl to get back to?" she bites, but I can see the hurt behind her eyes.

"Johanna?" I state, astonished. In response she glares at me before looking down.

What is wrong with her? Johanna and I are just friends, and she knows it. So what is it? She knows that I'm not vain enough to want to spend time with Johanna just because she's wearing a skimpier outfit. Could she…could she be what I think she is? I didn't even think of that before because it was so damn obvious that I love her. And she knows I love her so I didn't question it. But could she really be? Or is it just her being angry because she thinks that Johanna is ruining our thing with Snow? But that doesn't make much sense because I can't see Katniss being that way, especially if she knows that we're just friends. Or does she think we're more? I did say that I didn't know what Johanna was because it was complicated earlier. In that context, I meant that I didn't know if we were really friends or not, but I can see now that she could have taken it differently. As in Johanna and I had something going on. Just the thought makes me almost laugh out loud because it's ridiculous. Plus Johanna was teasing us blatantly earlier, and I knew what she was talking about, what with the knocking me out and everything but Katniss didn't. So is it what I think it is? I don't know for sure, but it's the only thing that I can see that makes sense at the moment. Guess there's only one way to find out.

"Katniss, are you…jealous?"

Katniss's POV

Am I? I don't know.

I mean, I did sort of storm off there in anger. I do feel kind of hurt and…well something I can't describe. But why? Why was I angry in the first place? Just because Gale hadn't told me about him having friends that were Victors? No, not really-that came as more of a surprise than anger, though I don't know exactly why it should be. I mean, I don't care really but somehow I do. Finnick Odair as Gale's friend? I mean, they're sort of the same age and after knowing what I know now; I have a feeling that Finnick probably doesn't like being the sex symbol of Panem. My guess is that it was forced on him and Snow made him become that to save the people he loves, like his own family. In fact if that is the case, then I have probably judged him too harshly all these years for being a player and loving it. In fact, I could actually like to know him. If Gale does, then I certainly could.

But Johanna Mason. That one threw me so far into the outfield that I can't even fathom it. That one I just simply can't understand at all. And the fact that Effie knew that they were friends and I didn't? I mean I know that I was sort of in the arena so I couldn't have known, but why didn't I know after it? Why didn't Gale tell me? Is he hiding something? Are they…something more?

Just the simple thought of it made me feel angry and bitter immediately. But I thought I could let it go because I really didn't understand why I felt that way this morning. I wanted answers but I couldn't get them until right before we had to make our entrance. And then…and then he said that he and Johanna were complicated. That he didn't know what they were. What could that mean but they were more than just friends? I didn't like it.

As the night went on and there was no Johanna Mason, I began to relax a little. Maybe she wasn't here after all. Maybe I could get through this night without seeing her, meeting her, finding out just what 'complicated' meant. But no sooner than I thought I might succeed, there she was. In a skintight red short dress that was too sexy to wear for no one. And it made me feel almost inferior, because with bitter assessment I decided she looked much better than I did. And then the joking, the teasing around, the touching she did with Gale. And he did back. And the fact that she knows that we aren't really together. Why does she know this? How does she know this? If she knows then it has to be because she is or wants to be more than friends with him. And he might want it back.

I know I'm being ridiculous because I know he loves me and I still don't exactly know what I think about that. But it's just….I can't help it. All I could think when she was there was He's mine. Where did that come from? It must have been that I was mad because she was jeopardizing our chances of fooling Snow and our families would pay the price. That Snow would know that there was something going on? Maybe he knew about Gale and…her and this isn't only about me. Just the thought makes me gag, makes me choke on something. I feel angry at him angry at her, and most of all, angry at myself. What am I doing?

Lying to myself. I can't admit to myself that it has nothing to do with Snow, nothing at all. It was the sheer thought that Gale could like someone else, be with someone else that hurt me so deeply and brought out a surge of anger at the entire world. And so what did I do? Storm off in the middle of a conversation, in the middle of a stupid ball for a stupid Victory tour that is so vital to Prim and my mother's lives. I really need to get my priorities straight or something.

But as Gale looks at me right now on the heels of his burning question, voicing something that I don't know if I am…or at least something I can't admit I am, I have to face it. I'm jealous. I'm jealous? Of something that isn't a skill or a survival technique? I'm jealous of my best friend (or whatever we are now, I haven't quite figured that out yet) liking another girl even when I know it's probably ridiculous?

I never wanted any of this; a relationship or anything that follows. And Gale might have been right when he said it wouldn't be real if I was being forced, because Snow was forcing me to do it. But I can't blame this one on Snow, and I know it. This has nothing to do with some stupid game or some dangerous man who wants to use us as toys. This is the purest, rawest form of emotional jealousy that it can't be anything but real.

When did that happen? What changed me, made me come to this point? Before my games I knew that Gale was sort of popular with girls, I heard them all talk about him enough. But it didn't make me jealous then. The only thing I worried about was losing a hunting partner because a good one was hard to find. I was resolved never to love or anything so it didn't bother me in the least. Was it winning the Games, ensuring me that it wasn't necessary to hunt just so my family would have food? That I could be sure that my family was pretty safe, that I was pretty safe as well? I mean it was certainly awkward to hunt still with Gale, not because we had changed but that some invisible line of our easy, effortless, friendship had shattered with my realization that Gale actually loved me, that it wasn't a game for him. That though the goal was to get out of appointments, it was real for him. And I didn't understand then what that meant.

Am I going soft? Have I been giving in this whole time? I mean, the nightmares practically disappeared when I slept in his arms, and I had to unwillingly admit that those were definitely the best two nights of sleep I had gotten since I won the Games. But I couldn't bring myself to ask him to do it again. I was scared-of what I don't know. Was I scared to let myself feel something? And then the other night when I heard him screaming in his sleep, I was a horrible person for actually being kind of relieved. It meant I had an excuse to get a good night's rest again. It meant that I didn't have to admit to myself or him that I actually liked it. I was actually almost resolved when I was half asleep that morning, savoring the last edges of sleep for once because I could to continue this when Effie of all people barged in. I was so embarrassed that I practically shot out of the room. I didn't even care that it would probably help us in the long run getting caught in the same bed even though all we were doing was sleeping. I reverted back to the me I knew, the me who ignored or stopped anything from being more than friendship. But was that a mistake?

Yes, I'm jealous-I have to be, there is no other explanation if I'm not lying to myself. Why am I jealous though? I look hard at Gale, really hard and with a rush everything comes to me. For one, even I had to admit before that he's ridiculously handsome. He's smart and talented, he's so strong but gentle at the same time. He has kept me and my family safe and sound for years, the person I trusted when I claimed I would never trust again. The only person I could ever be myself with, the only person besides Prim who could get a real smile out of me, and it doesn't even take much. And then he went to the Games and I felt his absence, I felt for the first time how important he was to me. That I had no idea what I would do without him-it was sort of selfish. So I told him he had to win any means necessary without explaining to either of us why it was so important. And he did; he came back to me (I mean us) and I was content. But then I went into the Games for Prim the very next year. And that's when everything changed-when he kissed me on the roof.

I was in such shock that I didn't know how I felt about it. But during the Games I found myself thinking about him, thinking about that kiss much more than I would have liked to admit even to myself. And then after the Games, when I find out about appointments and all Gale had gone through, all he had done. For sure I was angry, but I have a feeling I agreed too quickly, a part of me wanting it, wanting Gale like that. I didn't know that he actually was in love with me though and that reverted me back to my old ways once again, hiding in the safety of the cocoon of survival I had built myself in. But now…

I don't even care if it's what Snow wants, if this is what he thinks he's forcing me to be-I don't give a damn about Snow. What is the cold hard truth is that I want this-I want Gale. I need to break out of my cocoon of safety and face the world, face my own desires. So what if I never wanted this before-I want it with such a burning desire now that I can't fight it. I can't fight this want that is born of a fire, something that I never thought I needed but I do now. I want that fire to burn right through me, make me feel something I never have before. I want the fires of love, and I want them now. Time for me to allow the flames to take over.

After my resolution, I glance up to where Gale is still staring at me, watching my every expression and move on the heels of his question. But I don't want to answer him-no we communicate much better without words. Besides, I'm not certain I could admit out loud that I was jealous even though I know I am. Even though he knows I am. What I really want is for him to kiss me, right now. But how?

Changing the subject entirely (or not), I say, "It's been about ten minutes. What do you got?"

He looks surprised by this, me going back to our little game instead of answering the question. Does he know where I'm going with this? That I'm answering his question anyway?

After a second of hesitation, he answers, "The man with the pine needles as a tie. You?"

"Same." I lie, staring into his smoky eyes. He looks at me questioningly for a moment, clearly realizing that I lied but he doesn't exactly know why. But that doesn't stop him from leaning down to kiss me, the price for tying in this little game.

The second his lips touch mine I feel the flames of desire spark, heating my entire body. But it's a good heat and I want more. I want so much more, to be disintegrated by this fire born from this kiss. So after one kiss when he begins to let up I don't let him, bringing my hand to braid into his soft hair and forcing him to stay down. He seems a bit surprised but gives me what I want and more.

What starts out slow and passionate quickly becomes a full on blaze, our hands exploring the other's body, grazing them like we are committing them to memory even though we know them already. When his nimble fingers touch my skin I feel like those spots are going to burst into flames, but I want it. I want to be taken over by this inferno now, and I welcome it. At some point his tongue grazes my bottom lip to open my mouth to deepen the kiss, and I welcome it. Our tongues dance with each other, a wild tango that takes over me so completely I forget where I am. I forget everything but Gale and how he's making me feel, how his taste and touch and heat are only making me want more. I'm greedy for everything he's giving me and give it right back with equal verve.

Eventually the kiss comes to a slow, sweet end, and we rest our foreheads together with eyes still closed, breathing hard and allowing our racing heartbeats to slow down. Our hands slow to a stop as well, one of mine on the back of his neck with the soft ends of his hair tickling my palm and the other laying on his chest right over his heart, the thumping of it so wild still as it slows that I can feel every heartbeat on my hand. His arms are around my waist, holding me close to him so that almost all of our bodies are mashed together. Eventually I open my eyes in wander and find Gale looking at me in part surprise but mostly cocky and triumphant. He gives one short breathy chuckle which tickles my face because we're so close together.

"Liar." He states, finally calling me out with a smirk.

"What's the payment for that?" I whisper with a grin, not even caring that I was caught. He laughs once and with quick successive moves has me turned around and pinned to the wall with my arms above my head, held there by one of his hands. I take in a breath but can't let it out as he grazes my body with the other hand and presses seductive soft kisses along the length of my neck. To my surprise I moan in delight, wanting more than anything for his lips to be on my again, the craving so great that I can't take much more of this teasing. He seems to know this because he brings his lips an inch from mine but doesn't satiate my desire, and instead turns to kiss my cheek. When he pulls away with a smirk I give him a small pout, not happy about the teasing.

Gale chuckles again, "You asked what the payment was."

"So I did." I concede with a blush that gives away how much I enjoyed the last few minutes. You know what? Being burned by fire isn't so bad-as long as it's this kind, I'll gladly be licked up by the flames.


	9. Freedom

Katniss's POV

After our revelations/make-out session/whatever you call it, we realize that we actually should get back to the party since my absence and most likely his as well has probably been noted. Of course people might think that we have just successfully sneaked away for some alone time which has been something I've used in every district when I lost our game. Ironically this is the one time that was not actually the case why we left but it ended up being that anyway.

With my arm around his waist and his around my shoulders, we walk back to the party side by side with matching stupid grins. I also happen to be blushing still, not quite able to fully grasp what just happened. I kissed Gale and wanted it? A part of me expects myself to want to run away, to hide in the cocoon that I just broke away from. But strangely at the moment all I can feel is sheer joy at the freedom from it, and have no desire to go back to where I was. Funny how five minutes can change everything.

The rest of the party flies by and I hardly remember any of it specifically, my mind still caught in a dimly lit hall with Gale. Which of course has the effect of making me blush almost constantly and sneak glances at Gale, who just laughs at me and presses a kiss to my hair, to my temple. The one thing I do actually remember with vivid clarity is when we walked back into the room. We blended into the crowd pretty well, making it look like we never actually left. But then I felt someone looking at me and I looked around to find Johanna smirking at us-no smirking at me with such a knowing expression that I wanted to punch it off her face. It was like she knew what would happen before I did. Did she try to make me jealous on purpose? I don't know if I should thank her or hit her for that. Either way I still don't know exactly how I feel about her, but she doesn't come back up to us again that night so I don't find out.

Once we're back on the train I decide that there is no point in being scared of a good night's sleep again, even if it does mean that Effie walks in on us in the same bed again. So when Gale walks me to my room I turn to him before opening the door, taking one of his hands.

I bite my lip, not knowing exactly how to say it. It's one thing to just have been woken up from a nightmare and to ask; it's quite another to be doing it when we are both fully awake and don't have the nightmares to make me care really what I say. He cocks his head to the side to ask me What?

I whisper softly, "Stay with me?" He looks a little surprised at my request because I'm not someone who is very bold about this kind of thing, what with me not ending our kiss before and now this. But he just chuckles and nods, kissing my temple before he starts to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I ask in confusion.

"I'll be back. I'm just changing." He assures me. I relax instantly and go into my room to do the same with a small smile on my face. I guess that wasn't so hard.

When he comes back I'm already in bed waiting for him. He walks over slowly with an expression that I can't read but simply gets into bed and slides in next to me without another word. We face each other, staring at each other without speaking for a moment. Even though this has happened before and I asked for it this time, it's still a bit strange. I'm still wrapping my head around all this. He plants a soft kiss on my lips and I snuggle into him, falling asleep easily and at peace.

When I'm half asleep still with the sun pouring through the window, I feel a tingling on my arm which seems to move in a sort of pattern. I open my eyes drowsily and look up to find that the tickling was Gale's fingertips drawing light patterns on my arm absentmindedly while he stares at the wall, clearly deep in thought about something. I stir slightly and give him a whisper of a good morning. He nods in response but I still can't read his expression. Something must not be alright. I sit myself up a little with my elbows and look at him.

"What's wrong?" I ask in confusion.

"I'm an idiot." he replies, which only results in confusing me further. He evidently notices because he continues, "I should have known that you were doing it all for Snow."

"What?" I question. I most certainly wasn't. In fact, I don't know what I was thinking at all-desire just simply overtook me and for once I gave into it. And of all people to not realize that's what it was, Gale was certainly not one of them. Or at least I thought he wasn't.

"All of a sudden you're just some bold person. I should have known." He shakes his head.

"Gale-"

But he cuts me off with a sigh, getting out of the bed and I immediately miss his warmth, his tickling patterns and the way he makes me feel safe from my nightmares. "This is why I didn't want it to be forced." he mumbles as he leaves the room, shutting the door behind him.

What the? Had I gone too fast? Should I have asked him to stay with me last night? I mean I know that it was sort of sudden, me going from not wanting anything at all from him like that and trying to want it to actually wanting it, going through with it. Actually, I really wasn't thinking at all; jealously and desire just overtook me entirely and I went with it gladly, thoroughly enjoying something I never thought I wanted but now that I did I had no idea what I was so scared of. How can he of all people not tell that it's real for me, that it's not because I feel forced by Snow or anything at all like that? I practically threw myself at him last night. I mean yes it's not exactly what the old Katniss would do, but the old Katniss is gone-this new one wants all that and not because of some stupid president. And to think that I thought we could read each other so well. Ugh boys drive me insane sometimes-especially ones who are supposed to know me better than I know myself. Guess now my job is not to convince Snow that this is real but Gale. Never thought I'd have to say that.

Easier said than done it seems which just frustrates me more. Gale is taking this whole situation as something bittersweet, but in public he is ever in love with me like normal. We don't play our little game anymore now that it's not really necessary, but I can tell he still feels like I'm forcing it. That it's not necessary to play our game anymore because I'm playing one of my own. But I'm not-the only game I'm playing is to try to come up with new ways to make him believe me, that this is real for me. That I really do have feelings for him, though to what degree I don't even know myself.

In six I tried to sneak off for alone time again, though I got caught by someone this time and cursed at myself. I should have known it wouldn't have been that easy to do again; in fact, I'm not entirely sure how we managed to get away yesterday for so long. Gale just shook his head, taking this as an attempt to even further show Snow that I'm in love. In District 5 I tried talking with him about it during a dance, but I'm so bad with words that I think I might have resolved him even more without trying.

In District 4 I thought maybe I could get some help. I knew Gale was friends with Finnick by now and for some reason I thought he might be able to help me. I actually enjoyed four quite a bit despite my problem with Gale not believing me, as the ocean, something I had never seen before, beckoned to me with its crystal blue waves that seemed to go on forever, making me feel like it represented freedom. Freedom from everything here; Snow, the Hunger Games, peacekeepers, and so much more.

The Victors here are also part of the reason I love it in this district, despite it being a Career district. In particular, Finnick and Annie (who I recently found out from Gale is the real love of his life, not that string of Capitol girls) as well as some of the other less Careerish Victors here. Though this district has to go through the Games like every other, it doesn't have the same feel as 12 or any of the other districts I've been to yet. Though they have to work hard, they have a sense of happiness here despite everything. It could be because they actually get a decent amount of food every day, but I don't know. It's something I can't put my finger on, but it seems to be infectious because for some reason I smile a lot more here.

Of course that could be how funny Finnick is. I would have never guessed from his image that Panem sees him as, but he jokes around a lot and I have yet to see him be anything but kind. Seeing him with Annie, who is definitely not right in the head but despite that is sweet is probably the most loving thing I have ever seen. Annie will blank out every so often and cover her ears but Finnick is patient with her and calls her back with just a few soothing words.

I still make little progress in convincing Gale all through dinner, but maybe I can get Finnick alone during the ball to help me. So after dinner when Gale is in a deep conversation with one of the Victors I don't know too well, I slip off to find him. When I do, he's getting drinks and has two in hand, one I'm guessing is for Annie.

"Hello Katniss." Finnick greets me with a smile.

"Hi." I reply, not really knowing how to start. After all, I just met Finnick literally today and this is sort of a strange thing to talk to him about.

"Need something?" he asks me when I'm silent for a moment. I'm about to say no because I feel stupid now but it sort of just blurts out without me thinking about it.

"I need help with Gale." I say much to my surprise.

Finnick laughs, though for what I don't know. Is he laughing at my surprise in saying this or the fact that I need help? That I'm telling him about it? "What you need help with there?"

"You helped him during the Games right?" I ask, remembering that Gale told me something about that.

"Yeah, quite a bit actually." Finnick informs me. Really? I wonder how much quite a bit was.

"How…was he?" I question, not really knowing why I'm asking.

"It was bad a lot of the time. Every time you were hurt or were in any sort of danger he went ballistic. In fact Johanna had to knock him out a few times." he tells me. She knocked him out? Wonder how she managed that one. Not that it would really surprise me in the least she knew how.

"Oh. What did you think about me during the Games? Did you think that I could…have the same feelings too?" I question.

He shrugs, "During the Games I didn't because I knew better, but after…"

"What?" I ask.

"You've changed. I can tell now that you actually do have feelings, which is great for Gale." Finnick replies, and I huff. Of course Finnick can see that but Gale can't. What the hell is wrong with him? Oh right, I'm guessing that Finnick doesn't know about Snow's visit so he has no other motive he can think of for me.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you asking me this?" he questions.

"My feelings are real now but Gale doesn't believe me." I tell him.

Finnick chuckles again, "You two are crazy. What do you want me to do about it?"

"Could you…I don't know, talk to him?" I blush, frustrated that I have to ask for help on this. I feel stupid.

"I can, but I don't know how much it's going to help." Finnick says frankly, "I don't know how you can possibly prove it since he's being stubborn, but time will help with that."

"Yeah I guess." I sigh. Too bad time is the one thing we don't have. If I can't convince Gale, then there's no way we can convince Snow because Gale has to believe I want him back too, "Thanks."

"No problem." Finnick smiles, and walks away with his drinks.

I get my own drink and I feel Gale come up behind me so I turn around.

"What was that about?" he asks, his head nodding towards Finnick.

"Just getting to know him." I reply, "I like this district."

Gale chuckles, "Me too. Who knew we'd ever like a bunch of Careers?"

"I guess people aren't always what they appear to be." I say, "They seem more real here."

"That they do." Gale replies, evidently not catching on to the possible double meaning in my words. Ugh, why doesn't he just believe me? Finnick's right on one thing-Gale is too stubborn for me to find a way to prove it. And that's precisely the problem-I shouldn't even have to prove it, he should realize it on his own.

Gale's POV

Here we are, the only district I may despise as much as District 8 if not more. Funny thing is, the feeling is probably mutual here. District 2 certainly has a good reason not to like me or Katniss after all-they probably should have won both of the last two years and failed because of us. I know for a fact most of the Victors don't like me here, especially Enobaria. And from the daggers she's giving Katniss, I have a feeling she's not too fond of her either. I'll have to make sure to stay by Katniss all night tonight to make sure she's never alone with that particular Victor, because who the fuck knows what Enobaria would say or do to her if she could? Something I don't want to find out, that's for sure.

"You ready to go?" Katniss asks me. I look and see that it's time to go on stage. I nod and she entwines her hand with mine, leading the way. She's been taking the initiative almost more than I have recently trying mostly in vain to convince me that she's not doing all this for Snow. She even went to Finnick for help, which I actually couldn't believe she would do. Actually, I'm impressed she had the guts to ask him. He tried to convince me as well that her feelings were real, but of course he didn't know about Snow's visit. But even when I told him about that and why I thought she was acting that way because she felt forced to, he still was vehemently on her side. Sucker. I know that girl better than anyone, and she would not have felt that way on her own so quickly and done so many things. Still, I have to admit that kiss in seven felt real-like she genuinely wanted it. And who knows, maybe a part of her did? But the fact that she asked me to stay with her that night felt like she was pushing it, wanting us to get caught by Effie again because the gossip would get back to Snow.

As we go on stage, I look out into the crowd and find that I'm probably right about the hatred being mutual here. Though the crowd is cheering, you can tell that most of them probably don't want to be. The families certainly aren't cheering, and I really doubt it's because of their depression over their dead children. Clove's family seems mad, but by the looks about half of them are giving Cato's family I would guess that they are equally pissed at Katniss and Cato because Cato killed his own district partner, probably an idiot move on his part. After all, I'm pretty certain the guy was insane. Cato's family platform surprises me the most though. The strangest part is, I vaguely recognize about half of the ten people on the platform-Audrey's family is there as well as Cato's. What the fuck is this? Are they even allowed to be up there with them? Every last one of them is staring me and Katniss down, not even pretending to be sad or cheering. Katniss notices as well and glances back at me, but I gesture for her to just ignore them and get on with her speech. The sooner we get off this stage, the sooner we can get to the dinner and ball. Which means the sooner we can leave this damn district.

As Katniss does her speech, I look into the crowd but mostly at the platforms with the families of the tributes. Specifically Cato's, since it's so strange with the excess people. All of them are glaring at Katniss, but I watch one man, Audrey's father, watch Katniss but his hands are moving slowly, with purpose. They go behind his back and I can tell he's pulling something out. As soon as it gets a little visible, my eyes go wide with panic. A gun. Fuck he's going to shoot Katniss. Is he fucking insane? Where the hell did he even get a gun?

It probably happens very quickly, but to me it feels like slow motion. Audrey's father pulls out the gun and aims it at Katniss's head, who is oblivious because she's ignoring them during her speech. Shit. I don't know what to do but I know I have to save her, get her out of the line of fire. He pulls the trigger and I act. Katniss is about five feet in front of me and to the left. I lunge forward and push her out of the way, luckily saving her from that fatal shot. But as I feel a sharp immense pain in go through my chest, I know I didn't get out of the way. Luckily I don't have a lot of time to think about that pain, because my world instantly goes black and I'm free from it.


	10. Alone

Katniss's POV

"Gale!" I shriek, not quite believing what just happened. One minute I'm making my speech and the next I'm being pushed out of the way. But when I look to see who pushed me and why I get a prime spot for watching Gale get shot and almost instantly crumbling to the ground unconscious, blood seeping out of his upper chest. I fall to the ground next to him and push my trembling fingers to his neck to check his pulse, not knowing what I'm going to do if I don't find one.

It's there-dangerously faint but I can tell there's a pulse. He's alive. Relief momentary washes over me until my eyes glance down at his injury. It's around his collarbone, so I'm hoping it didn't get his heart or lungs. Though I normally can't stand blood or injured people or anything, I can't make myself move from where I am on the stage floor. I realize that he is losing too much blood and something needs to stop it before it kills him. Not having a cloth or anything I press my hand to it, his blood and chest warming my hand. I'm crying now, not even paying attention to anyone around me as I stare at Gale's face. I vaguely realize that there are people kneeling down next to me, shouts and orders and panicked screams. At some point I hear another shot and I cringe, protecting Gale with my body and pressing my face into his shoulder, the one that isn't bloody. I don't know how long I stay there like that because I'm completely lost in overwhelming emotions-fear, panic, desperation, and how on earth this possibly happened. How did this happen? How did he know? Why would he take a bullet for me? Because he loves me and now I'm seeing how much I care for him. How I would rather be the one hurt than him like it was apparently supposed to be. He doesn't deserve to be like this-I feel so guilty.

I feel a hand on my shoulder accompanied by Haymitch's voice, "Sweetheart, get up."

Instead of listening to him I do the opposite, pressing myself further into Gale. He huffs, "Katniss, get up now! We have to get him to the hospital."

Finally realizing what Haymitch is saying, that Gale will get help, I slowly try to pull myself away from Gale, but my knees are so weak that Haymitch helps me up from behind, his hands on my shoulders. Some medics instantly sweep in and take Gale into the Justice Building, which Haymitch and I follow. My tears are falling freely now and I go to wipe my cheek with my finger, but for some reason it only feels wetter. I glance down at my hand to find that's it's bright red-Gale's blood. I freeze at the thought of it on me, the pain and panic coming back in full force as I realize why it's on there.

Cinna try to calm me down, and takes my hands from me and wipe away the blood with a damp cloth as well as the blood smeared on my cheek. He leads me to a couch and sits down next to me, his arm around my shoulders and rubbing my arm soothingly, whispering things to try to make me feel better. But they don't make me feel better; none of it does. I'm so lost in my panic and pain, my mind with Gale who I don't see and have no idea how he is. Or even if he's dead. No-he can't be. He can't. All the soothing and calming attempts do is quiet me, but my mind is numb and racing at the same time on the inside. Nothing but being with Gale, alive, would make me truly alright at this point.

Maybe ten minutes later there's commotion where Gale is with the medics, and my face drains, instantly assuming that something has gone bad. But as they wheel him out, I look at them questioningly and one of the medics comes over to me.

"We will be taking him to the Capitol by hovercraft for surgery, as we don't have the best supplies here for that kind of wound." He tells me.

"Will he…will…" I try to choke out, but I can't even finish my sentence. Luckily the medic understands and gives me a weak smile.

"We can only hope. We're going to do our best to save him." He replies. That's not exactly what I wanted to hear. That's not a yes to my question, but it's certainly not a no. And I'm not going to let them leave at that-not without me at least. I stand up and start walking towards the doors where the other medics are gathering last minute things for the hovercraft and going outside.

"Katniss, where are you going?" Cinna asks me.

"I'm going with them." I reply with determination.

"No you're not sweetheart. You've got a tour to finish." Haymitch tells me, holding onto my arm.

Something in me snaps at this. They really want me to finish a stupid tour when Gale was just shot? When he took that bullet for me? I was the one that was supposed to be shot, probably dead. If it hit Gale in the chest they must have aimed for my head-I would have been dead almost instantly. And they want me to still go on with this stupid pointless tour after all that? Finish it without him?

I start shrieking and screaming obscenities at Haymitch, at anyone around, trying in vain to get away so I can sneak aboard that hovercraft. I don't know much what's going on other than my sheer panic and screaming so I do see the medic come up behind me. However, I do feel the needle go into my arm and my world fades to black and my screams disappear.

When I come to, I realize that I'm in a chair in some bedroom and I can distinctly smell some sort of wax my prep team puts on me. But I don't see my prep team, all I see is Cinna. He gives me a weak smile.

"What…happened?" I question as a whisper.

"They sedated you." He answers me after a pause, clearly still not liking the fact that they did. Come on, really? That wasn't necessary at all. I mean yes, I was panicking and screaming, but there are better ways to have calmed me down than knocking me out-preferably letting me go to the Capitol now. It almost seems like cheating what they did. What, can't they handle a screaming girl for more than five minutes? It's not like anyone could particularly blame me for my behavior.

"So does that mean we're in the Capitol?" I ask dryly, sarcastically. I know better than to hope that but I had to ask.

He gives me an apologetic smile, "No, we're still in District 2. It's almost time for dinner."

I give him a twisted look, a frown. Really? After everything that happened today they still want their stupid celebrations? And they want me to do it alone, without Gale?

"I'm sorry." Cinna frowns too, though I know it's not his fault. I sigh and nod, and he helps me into a grey gown the same shade as my eyes. I look in the mirror and to my surprise my hair is done as well as my makeup. They must have done it when I was still unconscious-convenient for them.

When we're at the top of the staircase to make our entrance, I am finally overwhelmed by everything and suddenly get a feeling of stage fright. I've never had to do this by myself before. Sure I walked down the stairs by myself, but aside from the probably two minutes I stalked off in District 7, I haven't been doing this solo the entire tour. Gale was always with me and I never felt worried or anything. I realize now how much I took that for granted. How it never even crossed my mind that I would have to talk to people, sit with them, dance with them all by myself.

And suddenly my feet feel like they're made of lead. I can't bring myself to move them, can't bring myself to go down those stairs to only have to fly solo the entire night. Besides the fact that I'm certain more than a few people will bring up Gale and I'm not sure how I will react to that. Probably wouldn't be very good behavior for the guest of honor. Cinna notices my small panic and comes over despite the fact that it's practically his turn to go.  
"Katniss, what's wrong?" he asks.

"I...I can't do this. Not by myself." I whisper, hating myself for being so weak.

"Would you like me to stay with you all night?" Cinna offers.

"You would do that?" I ask, grateful.

He gives me a warm smile, "Of course I would. You shouldn't be alone, not so soon."

"Thank you." I whisper with my own grateful small smile. He rubs my arm soothingly.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Cinna states. I give him one more smile and he goes down the stairs for his entrance. Since Gale isn't here, I'm next. I take in a deep breath and somehow find the courage to stand at the top in front of the crowd. As I look out into the crowd who is cheering, my legs turn to lead again but I'm also angry. Angry at their cheering. Why should they cheer? I'm certainly not. The anger luckily overpowers the numbness I feel and I somehow make it down the stairs and take Cinna's arm, who leads me to dinner. I hope this dinner goes fast, though I have a feeling it won't. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can get to Gale in the Capitol. Wow, I want to go to the Capitol-never thought I'd want that. Of course I never thought Gale would get shot either…

It's been probably the longest two days of my life, but we're finally pulling up to the Capitol within the hour. I never thought time could move so slowly, but it seems when you really want to go somewhere the clocks get stuck, mocking you.

I don't remember too many details from the last two days because they have mostly been overshadowed by my loneliness and worry. But there are a few things I remember vividly-the first being that I should have never left Cinna's side for anything in two.

It was horrible all night and I didn't really want to talk to anyone. Luckily Cinna didn't push it and he just pretty much stayed with me the whole night. It comforted me, no matter how small it was. But at one point I had to go to the bathroom, and that was one place I couldn't take Cinna. I would only be by myself for a few minutes so I assured him that I would be alright. But when I came out I got stopped by someone-a Victor with dark hair that I saw scowling and glaring at Gale and I earlier, though I had no idea what her problem was.

"Hello." she smiles at me, but her eyes tell me that she's mad about something.

"Hi." I say warily, and turning to walk away. But she stops me and pushes me against the wall much to my surprise, her entire expression wicked now. I have no idea what she wants with me, but I do know I have to get out of here now. As a hunter, my instincts are sharp and right now every last one of them is screaming 'danger' at me. I don't know who she is really or what she wants, but I know it can't be good.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" the woman tells me. I stare her down, choosing not to acknowledge her insult. "How the fuck did you even beat him? Cato should have fucking won! I should have won!" she seethes at me, and suddenly it makes a little more sense. She must have been Cato's mentor-and if she's have as crazy as he was (it's starting to look like it) then I'm in trouble. Who knows what she would do to me?

"Look, I-" I begin, desperately looking for a way to escape. She tightens her hold on my arms at first, and then loosens a little.

"You and fucking Hawthorne should have never taken my glory two years in a row!" she growls at me.

"It wasn't about your glory." I somehow find the courage to fight back. She must have been that girl's mentor in Gale's Games as well, the one that was apparently Cato's girlfriend. But I'm not the person to take it out on, not really.

"Oh really?" she states, "Well, at least karma is bitch. Hawthorne's gonna die in the end as well. And then you'll be all alone and broken and I'll take you down as well." she scowls at me. Something in me snaps at that and I get more angry than hurt. So it feels good to slap her right in the face.

"He's not dying, and neither am I!" I seethe, and stalk off while she laughs at me. I don't ever want to see that woman again, especially alone. Who knows what she would have done to me or at least attempted to if I hadn't gotten away? She had a murderous look in her eyes and I hate to say it but it frightened me, even through my anger. I'm practically running through the empty halls now, desperate to get back to the party with witnesses (I mean people). When I got back I stayed close to Cinna the rest of the night, no matter how bad I wanted to leave. I could feel that woman's glare on me even when I couldn't see her the rest of the night.

District one was almost no better than two. For one I had to do the entire thing by myself, including the Victor meeting before the speech. They acted much like the ones the day before, very Careerish. These ones especially hated me because I was responsible for both of the tributes here; Glimmer indirectly with the tracker jackers and very directly with the boy, who I learned when I was onstage his name was Marvel. It somehow made it easier to not know his name, but it's too late to take it back now. Now my guilt has a name to the face and it only makes my nightmares worse. This ball I decide to stay right by Haymitch the whole time even though he's certainly nowhere near the top of my list for people to hang out with. But somehow I feel safer with him than Cinna, because all Haymitch does is drink in a cushy chair and no one bothers him. People still come up to me to see me but not nearly as much as they probably would have if I was walking around. Or maybe they realize that I'm not in a state of mind to talk right now, my mind firmly in the Capitol where Gale is.

So as the train finally pulls up to the Capitol, I am more eager than ever to get off of it, straight to where Gale is. Normally Haymitch told me we would be immediately taken to the Training Center to get ready for my interview this afternoon, but given the circumstances we are going straight to the hospital where Gale is. They tell me he's recovering nicely from surgery and he's going to be fine, but somehow it doesn't comfort me much. I need to see him, touch him, make sure myself that he's going to be alright.

As I step off the train I'm immediately overwhelmed by cameras flashing and reporters asking questions, all of which I ignore with small polite smiles as my feet move faster to the car that will take me to Gale. Once in the car, I try to calm down but I can't stop fidgeting, too anxious to sit still. Haymitch smirks at my fidgeting but says nothing, not daring to make fun of me right now when he can't escape me from this car. I glare at his knowing smirk but keep the silence, not trusting myself if I broke it.

My stomach feels sick with nervousness when we go up the elevator, not wanting to go into that hospital room and wanting it so bad at the same time. They're letting me have some alone time with Gale first before they come in, knowing we should be together by ourselves for a while. I have the same feeling when I'm at his door, knowing that he's right behind it but I can't physically make myself open it. Somehow I've been so anxious to get here but now I'm terrified of what I'll find in that room. I have my hand on the knob and take a deep breath-Gale. This is Gale behind that door, and I want-no need to see him now. I steel myself and turn the knob forcing myself to go in.

He's sleeping, in a hospital gown with a few tubes stuck in his arm. But other than that, he looks the same. I take another deep breath and walk over to the bed, sitting on the side of it carefully trying not to wake him. I stare at him in relief for a minute, and finally bring myself to touch him. I gently take his hand in mine and rub my thumb along his knuckles, almost glad that I can't see the wound where the bullet went in. He wakes up to my caress, slowly opening his eyes.

"Catnip?" he whispers, still waking up or under some sort of drug or something. But I'm certainly awake, and all my desperation and relief come back in full force. I practically jump on him and bring my hand to the back of his head to pull it down to mine for a hard, desperate kiss.

He chuckles but winces slightly, "Um…ow." I lean back, realizing that I probably pressed into his wound when I was kissing him.

"I'm sorry." I apologize, feeling really bad. Great, now I just made it worse within the first two minutes of seeing him.

He shakes his head with a smile and caresses my cheek, "It's alright."

"It's not alright!" I claim in a half panic, "You were shot!"

"Katniss, it's alright. I'm fine." He assures me, but it's not fine.

"No it's not. That bullet was for me and you took it." I'm hardly getting out, crying now.

"Well if I hadn't pushed you out of the way, it would have been your head. Would you rather it hit you?" he says.

"Yes!" I declare, "Then you wouldn't be here-it's all my fault."

"It's not." He replies, evidently surprised at my reaction. I bury myself into him again, making sure to avoid where the bullet was this time. I wrap my arms around his neck carefully and breath into him, taking in his wonderful smell-pine and wood smoke and something that's just entirely Gale.

"Don't you ever do that to me again." I say into his chest. He rubs my back for a minute and kisses my hair, but then pulls me back a little to look at me. He stares into my eyes, evidently trying to wrap his head around something.

"You weren't lying-it's not for Snow." He whispers, almost afraid to ask. Finally. He finally realizes I wasn't lying.

"No it's not." I assure him with a smile which matches his own, though he still seems a bit in awe of his revelation. I lean up as his head goes down and our lips meet in the middle in a burning fire. It starts out slow but quickly turns more passionate, despite being in a hospital bed. A fiery kiss interrupted by a laughing Haymitch. We both turn to look at him, and I'm equally embarrassed and annoyed with Haymitch. What happen to alone time?

"Well, guess there's no problem convincing Snow anymore." He declares through his guffawing.

I blush instantly-I guess there shouldn't be. But only time will tell, because I have a feeling Snow might not be convinced anyway even if it's true.


	11. Requests

Gale's POV

Leaning back against the solid base of an oak tree in our spot, I close my eyes and soak in the warmth of the beginning of spring sunshine, absentmindedly playing with Katniss's hair where her head is laying on my lap. We've gotten a good haul early today so we decided to take a break and just relax for a while before going to the Hob. Besides, it's not like we have anything better to do, what with me not required to work and Katniss not required to finish school or work. That is one advantage of us both winning the Games that makes it a little worth it. Probably one of the very few advantages, but I'll take it if it means that we can spend our days in the woods gladly.

As the afternoon sun tells me that it's getting late, I rouse Katniss from her nap and she sits up for a moment, dragging out the time that we can be here. I lean in to kiss her softly and she hums in content before pulling her up with me. We gather our game bags and link hands as we walk out of the woods and to the Hob in a comfortable silence.

This is how it's been since we got back from her Victory tour, and I have to say that it's definitely been the best fiveish months of my life. Our families are safe, well fed, and happy in Victor's Village. The District is doing so much better than before, what with Parcel days and our free time meaning that we hunt for others now, bringing starvation to an all-time low in the Seam. And finally, Katniss and I are exactly where I wanted us to be-happily in love.

Of course she hasn't admitted it yet, but I know she does love me. Katniss knows she loves me too. She doesn't use words because she's incredibly bad with them, but I know it from her kisses and actions in the last month or so. She's even almost said it a few times but can't spit it out every time. I just chuckle and kiss her frustration at herself away. She'll say it when she's ready-the important thing is that she does love me, and I love her back.

Good thing we do love each other too. Somehow we managed to convince Snow that our relationship was real, that the feelings were real because nothing bad has yet to happen to ourselves or our families. In fact, we got a request (meaning requirement) from him just last month for what we have to do for entertainment, so I guess the game is still on. I still hate being a good little puppet for him, but I can't say that I mind this 'request.' Not too much anyway. He wants us to come to the Capitol for the reading of the card for the Quarter Quell this year and do an interview. But in that interview, he wants me to propose to Katniss, onstage in front of a live audience and the whole country watching. And I do want to marry Katniss, I really do. But a proposal in the Capitol like that is not exactly what I had in mind.

Still, this isn't exactly a punishment besides the fact that we're a bit young to get married and haven't been dating that long. Though the country aside from our families believe that we have been dating for a little over a year because of the lies we told during and after Katniss's Games, in reality we've only really been together for about five months, since the Victory tour. Getting engaged after five months is a little fast, but if it saves our families then I'll do it without batting an eye.

Katniss, of course, isn't entirely thrilled with the idea of getting married still, but she's not too mad. For one we were heading in that direction anyway, it's just a little sooner than we thought it would be. And for another it saves our families and it's not even horrible at all. In all honesty, I'm surprised Snow suggested it because he's probably aware that it's alright with us in this case to be entertainment-it makes me believe that he has something else up his sleeve to ruin it for us but make it fun for himself, but what I can't even guess.

After giving the game away at the Hob and spreading our coins around, we go back to her house in Victor's Village for dinner with both of our families. We don't always eat together, but since Katniss and I are leaving for the Capitol tomorrow morning it's a special occasion. Besides, we're practically family anyway, and we kind of will be for real after Katniss and I are married. Our families are thrilled by our relationship being real finally, which was quite clear when all the kids were practically jumping for joy when Posy asked when we got back from the tour. I laughed and Katniss blushed, but our mothers just looked satisfied and shared a knowing grin. We decided not to tell them about the proposal tomorrow night, knowing that they will love the surprise-after all, Katniss isn't supposed to know and telling them that she does means that they would start asking questions. Questions neither of us want to answer ever, so it's best to simply give them a nice surprise.

After a good dinner and some tea by the fire, my family says goodnight and hugs both me and Katniss, knowing that they won't see us before we leave tomorrow. A patient knocks on the door so Prim and Mrs. Everdeen rub their sleepy eyes and go to work in the kitchen as I grab Katniss's hand and lead us up to her room.

We've been sleeping together and holding off each other's nightmares every night since I figured out in that Capitol hospital room that she really did have feelings for me. The nightmares haven't gone away in the least, but it makes them easier to deal with in each other's arms at night. Our families gave us questioning looks for a while, clearly not trusting that all we were doing was sleeping. But after they figured out that the screaming pretty much stopped and we were finally getting some sleep, they left it alone for the most part. Besides, it's more convenient to be in the same house because we still leave early in the morning to hunt, so it makes more sense for us to leave together so we know what time the other leaves without waking up our families.

This is one way that I convinced Katniss that marriage won't be so different then how we are now. We already sleep in the same bed, and we'll still hunt in the woods everyday like usual. The only real difference will be that we'll have our own house and other things that you can do in a bed…

Obviously it's nothing new to me, what with the appointments that thankfully stopped after our little trick during and after Katniss's Games. I had even had sex before that, here in District 12. But Katniss has never, not once in her life. It's a part of the reason I never wanted appointments to be an option for her because your first time should be special, not because you're saving your family's lives and basically being raped. And even though it's me, it still scares her. Not only because she's afraid of the pain that comes with it, especially the first time for a girl, but because of what could result from it; children. She's absolutely terrified to have kids, especially now that we're both Victors. She thinks that any child of ours would be guaranteed to be reaped, if not because we pissed off Snow for some reason than because it would result in enormous excitement for the Capitolites. She only voiced her fears in bed one night to me because we didn't want our families to worry, but it didn't make it any better. There's not much I can say to comfort her about that because we both know that she's probably right.

The next morning Katniss and I are up well before the sun and get on the train with Haymitch in tow around 5 AM. I really have no idea why Haymitch is coming, as he wasn't officially invited nor will he even be at the theater. My best guess is that he's going for the alcohol-after all, it's much better than the white liquor he gets from the Hob, or so I've heard. Once on the train Haymitch immediately goes to his room for some more sleep but Katniss and I go to eat breakfast in the dining car. We wouldn't usually be getting on the train so early in the morning, but since the interview/ card reading is tonight we had to so we would get there on time. In fact, we're cutting it so close that our prep teams and Cinna are already on board somewhere (probably sleeping) to get us ready on the train.

When Cinna comes to help me get ready he brings my suit with a smile on his face. He helps me into it and lets me look in the mirror when he's satisfied.

"Thank you." I say as I take in my image.

"No problem. This is a special night after all." He replies. I turn to face him and he has such a meaningful look that I realize he knows more than he lets on. He's well aware that this isn't just a card reading or an interview.

"You know." I state. It's not a question.

"Yes." Cinna replies with a genuine smile.

"How?" I ask. I know that Katniss tells him a lot, but we agreed not to tell anyone about it other than Haymitch. Since he's helped us so much we decided that him knowing everything about Snow's 'requests' and doings could only help us, no matter how much we hate to depend on him. Haymitch just has a way of making impossible things possible and he knows everything, though I still haven't a clue how he does it.

"Haymitch." He says, and I roll my eyes. Of course. "Don't be mad, he was only trying to help."

"How so?" I question, more curious than angry. It doesn't really matter in the end if Cinna knows-I don't think he would tell anyone anyway.

"Because I'm from the Capitol, and I know what people there expect out of a proposal-things you wouldn't think of in District 12." Cinna states matter-of-factly.

"Really? Like what?" I ask.

"Like an engagement ring." He tells me, "When a man proposes in the Capitol, he offers the girl a ring and if she accepts it it's a sign of her engagement."

"Why would you need that?" I ask. In the districts weddings are actually kind of a simple affair. Besides the fact that practically nobody can afford a wedding ring much less anything else, people get married within weeks of getting engaged so there's really no use for an engagement ring. That and gossip travels fast in 12 so everyone knows who's getting married within two days of a man proposing almost without fail.

"Engagements usually last months, as weddings are lavish affairs and take time to plan and organize." He replies, "That way people know that you have a wedding coming up."

"Oh." I state. Great, are they expecting us to wait months for a toasting? Or are they going to make us have a wedding in the Capitol? I could see Snow making that a 'request' for us; after all, it would make great television. "But I don't have a ring." I point out to him.

"I figured as much." he grins, "Which is why I brought some for you to choose from." He holds up his finger for me to wait, and rummages through his bags for a minute before coming up with a small briefcase looking thing. He opens it with a flourish in front of me, and my eyes go wide as I see the rings. There must be at least two dozen in there, nestled in a deep blue cushion thing in the suitcase, all shiny and really expensive looking. Cinna chuckles at my expression.

"Where did you get all of these?" I ask, still staring at the rings.

"A friend of mine is a jeweler and I asked him to give me a sample to choose from." He informs me, "Please, choose one-on the house."

"Cinna, these are too much. How much does it cost?" I question.

"It's free for you." He says, not giving in. I frown, not liking the idea of getting something this expensive without paying for it.

"If you don't choose I'll tell Katniss about this…" Cinna warns me. Katniss-she would kill me for this, and the only way I could possibly get her to accept it would be on that stage where she can't. I sigh, but take a closer look at the rings, giving into Cinna. When I come across one with a diamond in the middle and a small pearl on each side of it, I know that's the one. I pick it up and Cinna smiles at me.

"Perfect choice." He states, and I have to agree with him. I put the ring in my pocket and go out to meet Katniss, as the train is pulling into the Capitol-showtime.

Our interview with Ceaser takes place on the stage where the interviews for the Games take place, him in his usual chair and Katniss and I on a plush red loveseat. He asks us questions about how we've been since the Victory tour, how I've recovered from my bullet wound and such. When he asks us where he thinks our relationship is going, I give him a wink and a knowing grin and get down on one knee in front of where Katniss is sitting on the couch. Her eyes go wide in (fake) surprise, her hand covering her mouth.

"Katniss Everdeen, I love you and I will love you forever and always-you're my whole world. Will you marry me?" I state honestly with a smile that reaches my eyes, every word of it the truth. I pull out the ring from my pocket and hold it up to her, and her whole expression is in awe, in real surprise this time. She accepts and I slip the ring on her left ring finger before standing up only to almost lose my balance as she jumps up from the couch to kiss me. The audience is crying in joy, cheering and shrieking in excitement at our engagement. And then I feel a hand on my shoulder accompanied by that damn scent that I've come to hate. I turn around to find Snow with a fake smile on his face, congratulating us both.

"Wonderful! Just wonderful, isn't it?" he says to the crowd, who cheers, "How about throwing their wedding right here in the Capitol?" he offers, to which the crowd screams in delight and exhilaration. Katniss and I thank him, pretending to be excited about it. Well, at least I sort of expected this-it seems to have thrown Katniss for a loop. But I get it; our job according to Snow is to entertain the masses, and what better way than to exploit that with our wedding?

I take Katniss's hand and lead her to our seats so that Snow can do the card reading for the Quarter Quell. It won't be my first year mentoring though it is Katniss's. Though I'm guessing it will feel like my first year because really, mentoring someone you love isn't mentoring-it's a train wreck of a job accompanied by desperation and panic. Add that to all the help I received and I doubt it counts for real mentoring, not really.

A little boy in a white suit comes out onto the stage carrying a box. Snow opens it and I see all the cards in there, all with a number on there going by 25's. Damn, just how many Quarter Quells did they plan for? How many horrors could they possibly come up with to make the Hunger Games even worse? Snow takes the card that I suppose was once white but is now a bit yellowed with a 75 on it, and begins.

"On the 25th year of the Hunger Games and the first Quarter Quell, because the rebels chose to rebel tributes were voted on by their District." He states. That had to have been awful-knowing that your District chose you to die. "For the second Quarter Quell on the 50th year of the Hunger Games, because two rebels died for each Capitolite, twice the amount of tributes were selected." Snow continues. Shit, forty-eight tributes? And I thought 24 was bad. That was the year Haymitch won…

"And now for the 75th year, the third Quarter Quell. Because thirteen districts tried and failed to stand against the Capitol, all tributes reaped and participating will be the age of thirteen." He states.

Age of thirteen….thirteen….Rory. Fuck. I glance at Katniss in horror only to find her looking at me with the same expression. Then I realize something-Prim is thirteen too. And I grasp two things with a feeling of dread.

One-We both have siblings that are thirteen at the reaping of the Quarter Quell that will only reap and accept thirteen-year-olds.

Two-Snow is nowhere near done punishing us.

Shit.


	12. Possible

Haymitch's POV

"And now for the 75th year, the third Quarter Quell. Because thirteen districts tried and failed to stand against the Capitol, all tributes reaped and participating will be the age of thirteen." Snow says on the small television I'm watching in a safe room way down in the Training Center with Plutarch. Thirteen huh? Shit, I think that the kids both have siblings that age.

"Do you think he planned this?" Plutach questions me, evidently thinking the same thing. As someone who helps with the rebellion a lot when it comes to the Hunger Games, he knows more about Victors than Victors would probably like him to. It's his job to know, to keep track of them so when the time comes we can use that to our advantage.

I think about that for a minute, "Nah."

"Really?" Plutarch replies, surprised.

"If anything, this is the worst possible thing for the Quell for Snow. If one or both of those kids' siblings get reaped people will start getting suspicious." I predict. After all, the kid was reaped and the love of his life was reaped the year later. Add one or both of their siblings to the mix the very next year and people will suspect foul play. Snow can't afford for either one of them to be in this Quell if he wants to prevent a certain rebellion, and you can fucking bet he knows it.

"So you're saying the best possible thing for us would be for them both to be reaped?" he asks.

"Both or either one. Doesn't really matter." I confirm.

"But Snow will realize this too. He would never rig the reaping because I'm sure he's well aware of the consequences, even if not many other people are." Plutarch points out.

"Well what do you want me to do? Rig it myself?" I state with sarcasm.

"No, he would surely check to make sure that they both only had their required slips if he doesn't rig it for them to have none at all. Why take the chance if he doesn't have to?" Plutarch says.

I groan and shake my head. He's right. Snow would fucking destroy our chances of getting this rebellion rolling with this. "He might. Or if he did rig this card it was probably to tear the kids apart, make them at war with each other for a few months."

"True. If you're correct in saying that Gale is as protective of his siblings as Katniss is, even their love for each other might be strained." He says, rubbing his chin in thought, "Could you explain that to them? Make them see sense?"

I laugh at that, "Sense? Please, those two are too stubborn to see that. Especially since I couldn't explain it in a way that wouldn't give anything away to them about the rebellion."

"We could tell them now…"

"No, it's too dangerous-not without Jullus here anymore." I declare, "We need a leader and we need a fucking plan."

"I'm the leader now I suppose." He replies.

"Yeah, but we need you to be the Head to have more power. And I don't see that happening any time soon with that fucking suck up Crane in that position." I claim.

"Well I could try to make him screw up somehow, but we still don't have a viable plan until then. Have you updated Coin?" he questions.

Ugh Coin. I fucking hate that woman, but currently she's our best hope of pulling off a rebellion since she's the President of District 13. "Yeah, she's aware of what's going on here in the Capitol. All she said was figure it out within the year."

"There's no way I can bring Seneca down within a year, not even with Horatia's help. We need more time." Plutarch says, and I rub my face in frustration. Damn, why did Jullus have to fucking die? Why couldn't he have told anyone his damn plans beforehand? We never saw it coming, never thought about what would happen if he died. Snow screwed us royally with that one and I doubt he even knew it. And I know Plutarch's right-he couldn't screw up Crane's image or status enough by the Quell even with Horatia's help, another Gamemaker rebel.

I sigh in annoyance, "I'll talk to her again and we'll talk when I get here for the Games."

I get up and leave the room by myself, as Plutarch will wait about twenty minutes so that no one suspects us. Normally it wouldn't matter who left first, but I've got a train to catch. I'm technically not even invited to the Capitol this time but I couldn't let the opportunity pass to talk about the rebellion with Plutarch. Not now when we're scrambling. The kids have no clue why I came and I'm not going to give them any reason to suspect me by being late to the train. And I'd rather keep them in the dark until we get some semblance of a plan out of our asses before telling them that they're the symbols. Better they were in the dark for as long as possible.

Gale's POV

These last few months have been horrible, and now it's time again for the reaping. Time for me to go back to the Capitol once again-hopefully without Rory this time but you know what? The odds haven't exactly been in my favor most of the time in the last two years. So I'm not counting on hope.

Katniss evidently has felt the same way about Prim, and unfortunately our love for our own siblings has created a wedge between us. We don't talk about it, but it's so large and uncomfortable of a distance that we don't have to. Oh sure Haymitch told us it was probably just to screw with us, that we're overreacting. But is he just saying that to make us get along? I don't know really. The worst possible thing that Snow could do to us would be to reap both Rory and Prim because not only would Katniss and I be at 'war' with each other, but we would still have to act the happy couple. And happy isn't exactly what we've been the past three months, even if we are engaged.

As soon as we got back from the Capitol in March, the whole town was ecstatic about our engagement and congratulations followed us wherever we went for a few days. An engagement we half forgot about because of our worry about the Quell, but I guess that's understandable. The District doesn't know what we know, and what we know is that Snow will make us look foolish for defying him by tearing us apart. And unfortunately it's working.

Katniss and I still hunted, but she claimed that she wanted to spend more time with Prim because of the reaping coming up so we went home in the afternoons. One day I came by maybe an hour before dinner just to drop off something from my mother and I found Katniss teaching Prim how to throw an knife at a dart board.

"Look Gale, isn't this a fun game?" she giggled, "Katniss said it's a game they have in the Capitol called darts."

Oh really? Since when are darts played with knives? I realized then that Katniss wasn't going to let Prim go down without a fight. Katniss looked at me guiltily but didn't apologize. Fine by me. The next afternoon I took Rory out into the woods and started teaching him snares and how to shoot with a bow. I told him that I had always said that I would teach him and now I was so that he wouldn't get suspicious. The kid was actually decent with the snares I taught him but was having trouble with the bow. But he was almost as tall as me now so in hand to hand he might be alright. Katniss caught us wrestling once at our house in Victor's Village and just rolled her eyes at me. What? She can't exactly say anything about it, she started it.

Even our conversations were awkward now, what with us completely avoiding any topic about the reaping or Rory and Prim. Our hunting time which was once the best part of the day has now become a time when I can't be myself. This is ridiculous, why can't I be myself with Katniss of all people? Damn Snow pulled it off to tear us apart and I don't even know if that was the intent-it makes me even angrier, but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not going to say it's okay for because of Rory-he's my priority now, to give him the best chance he has in those Games.

The morning of the reaping, we all get dressed in good clothes before walking to the square early so that I can get in the Justice Building. We happen to walk out of our house the same time as the Everdeens, so we end up walking with them. Prim and Mrs. Everdeen are chatting quietly with the rest of my family, but Katniss and I are in the back not talking at all. Rory falls out of the group and stands still for a minute, letting the group get ahead a little. We stop where he is in confusion.

"Rory what's wrong?" I question him. I mean I know that the kid might be scared of this reaping, especially since his chances are greater (very great if I'm correct) of being chosen since all tributes are thirteen, but somehow I didn't see him showing it.

He stares at the group for a few moments before turning on us, making sure that they're out of hearing range, "Alright drop the act you two. I know what's going on here."

"You do?" I ask, astonished.

"You think that Prim and I are going to be reaped. And you wouldn't be acting the way you have with us unless you were pretty sure about it." He states more calmly than I could have.

"How'd you know?" Katniss asks guiltily. Shit, I thought that we had been pretty sneaky about it.

Rory laughs under his breath, "Please. All of a sudden you teach me now how to hunt? And you show Prim how to throw a knife and say it's a dart game?"

I look at Katniss and she glances back at me, our expressions the same. Had we been too obvious? I mean I guess it doesn't matter now, we just didn't want to worry them.

"We didn't want to worry you." I tell him.

"You didn't think that I would have rather known? That it might have been better that way?" Rory questions. I look back a Katniss and she looks back at me, but it's clear that we're still at war until this mess is figured out. "That! That has got to stop."

"What?" Katniss asks.

"You two not getting along. For god's sake you're engaged, and you're certainly not acting like it!" Rory claims, glancing back at the group that has now turned around because it has realized that they were missing three members, "Look, I don't know what's going on with you two and the Capitol, but don't let it drive you apart. You always worked better as a team, and that wouldn't change even if Prim and I both get reaped. We'd need you to be a team if that happens. Remember that."

Rory goes to join the group again which has walked back but Katniss and I stay still. Rory tells the group to leave us alone for a moment, that we'll catch up and all of a sudden we're by ourselves.

"When did that kid get so smart?" I mutter, shaking my head. How did it come to this, Rory putting us in our place? Telling us what we already know but evidently forgot. If I don't watch that kid more closely he's going to find out what's really going on with the Capitol, something I definitely don't want to happen.

"Maybe he's right." Katniss sighs. I turn to her to give her an apology and she leans up to kiss me gently, that being apology enough for the both of us. I give her a small smile and offer my hand, which she takes and we walk the rest of the way to the Justice Building hand in hand.

Though we've made up (sort of), it's still a nerve-wrecking day. Rory, Prim, or both of them probably have very good odds of getting reaped, and that doesn't make either of us feel better even if Rory seemed calm about it. I underestimated that kid; maybe he would have a decent shot at winning, especially since there won't be older kids. It gives me a little hope.

While we're waiting in the Justice Building for the reaping to start, Effie is chatting excitedly with us about the details of our wedding coming up in about three months. I don't really pay that much attention, just nodding my head at whatever she's saying. She appears to know more about our wedding than we do, and to be honest I really don't care. I don't see it as a real wedding, there won't even be a toasting. And no one in District 12 feels officially married until the toasting. Maybe we could do it when we get home from the wedding in the Capitol with our families there.

Haymitch is sitting in a plush chair drinking of course. He seems to be in a bad mood though for what I don't understand. He's not even mentoring this year, something I know he was happy about. Maybe it's because he's still going back to the Capitol? I'm actually kind of glad he's still coming because I still don't know all too well how to mentor which means that I don't really know how to teach Katniss everything.

Maybe five minutes later the mayor comes out and says that it's time to go onstage, thankfully ending Effie's chattering. Haymitch groans but gets up from his chair, and Katniss and I link hands and follow Effie and the mayor onto the stage.

When we get onto it, the view from the stage is strange. I knew it would be only thirteen year olds, but seeing only them roped off makes you realize how the odds are definitely in none of their favors. There can't be more than thirty kids in each roped off area for boys and girls, and almost every last one of them looks terrified. And the spectators that are required to come to the reaping is larger than ever, what with twelve year olds and anyone over thirteen safe this year from the reaping. The eighteen years olds around Panem must have thought that this Quarter Quell was the best thing to happen to them because they were exempt from their last year of the reaping. Well, all except the Careers maybe. They we're probably pissed because usually it's eighteen year olds who volunteer and they missed their shot at 'glory' this year. I wonder if any thirteen year old Careers will volunteer? I somehow see it being less likely, but you never know with Districts 1 and 2.

The mayor does his speech and Effie says "Ladies first." just like every other year. I can feel Katniss tense up and hold her breath, utterly terrified for Prim. I squeeze her hand to comfort her, but even I find myself tensing up. Will Prim really get reaped two years in a row?

"Jaida Brighton." Effie says loud and clear in her stupid Capitol accent. I blink twice in shock. No Prim? It wasn't Prim. I'm relieved at that and so is Katniss, the name instantly relaxing both of us even though that sounds horrible. As long as it's not both Rory and Prim it will be alright. As a team we have a much better shot at getting Rory home, because we can focus all our energy on him. Guiltily, I've already forgotten the Seam girl's name whose pale face indicates that she's frightened, understandably so.

When she gets up on the stage Effie asks for applause, and there is a token applause from the crowd. Effie realizes this is all she's going to get from them as excitement or cheering, so she chooses to ignore it and goes to the boys' bowl. Now I'm the one tensing up like I'm going to break, holding my breath. I can feel Katniss's thumb rubbing soothingly along the knuckles of my hand, trying in vain to relax the death grip I now have on her hand. I glance at her and her determined eyes tell me that whatever happens, we're in this together. That we will bring Rory home. I'm so focused on that that I miss the name and turn my head to the crowd and immediately find Rory. But strangely, he's smiling at me as a Seam boy I don't know comes up to the stage. What? Rory's safe? Haymitch must have been right about Snow only wanting to drive us apart for a few months if he rigged the card at all. I immediately relax and try not to smile at Katniss, because really this is a horrible day anyway and people might hate us for smiling at it.

But when we get into the Justice Building, we no longer contain our smiles. I pull her into the closest room as the tributes are taken to their visitor rooms and push her against the wall to kiss her deeply. When we come up for air, we're both smiling and breathing hard.

"They're safe. They're both safe." she whispers, "How?"

"I don't know. Maybe Haymitch was right." I tell her, and kiss her lightly again. "I love you."

She looks into my eyes when I say that and blurts out, "I love you too."

She looks shocked that she actually said it but I laugh, completely over the moon. Katniss loves me. I knew she did, but I didn't realize how amazing it would be to hear her say it out loud.

"Only you would be surprised at saying that." I chuckle at her, but she rolls her eyes with a blush on her cheeks and shuts me up with a fiery kiss. I feel like we could be burning down the whole building with this kiss, the fire's so heated. And you know what? We probably wouldn't have even noticed.


	13. Failure

Gale's POV

Several hours later Katniss and I are on the train and going to dinner hand in hand with stupid smiles on our faces. But we really can't help it because we're so caught up in our love, complete with swollen, chapped lips and constant touching. We both know it's time to be serious though, because I'm sure that our tributes aren't smiling-after all, they don't have much to smile about at this point.

When we get to dinner both of them are already there, looking small and frightened but eating as much as they can, ignoring Effie for the most part. I can tell by their red puffy eyes that they've both been crying recently, which I totally understand. After all, they're only thirteen years old. If this was a normal Hunger Games I'd bet that neither of them would be here right now, what with so many of the older kids having far more slips in the reaping bowl. Neither of them talk too much and we don't push it for now, letting them enjoy all the food because it very well might be one of the last good things they have in life. Sure we're going to try our best for them, but we can only do so much. Besides, in the best case scenario only one of them could come home so for at least one of them my statement is entirely true. It's not fair, but it's the Hunger Games; nothing is fair.

After dinner we go watch the recap of the reapings in the television room with Effie since Haymitch is nowhere to be found (my guess is that he's drinking or sleeping). I'm surprised to find that the boy from District 2 volunteers, but no one else does. Looking at all the tributes, I realize that this might be anyone's game since all the tributes are on a more even playing field, what with them all being thirteen. I don't know how much experience or training the Careers will have, but I'd bet that even they wouldn't be up to normal Career standards yet. After they're over Effie says goodnight and leaves us with our tributes.

"So, we can mentor you together or separate. Choose now." I state in a kind voice. I can tell that they're still terrified, and I can only be glad that they won't have Haymitch as their mentor.

The girl, Jaida, looks at her district partner, "I don't have anything to hide. Together?"

Her district partner whom I learned during dinner's name is Carter nods, "Sure. I don't have any skills either."

Oh great, how are we supposed to bring one of them home if they can't do anything? Any confidence I originally had falters a little more, but I don't show it. "Alright then. First thing in the Capitol is getting ready for the Opening Ceremony. You'll hate what your prep teams do to you but don't fight it."

"Great." Carter states, rolling his eyes as if going to the Games wasn't enough.

"I promise the stylists aren't bad. Cinna and Portia are amazing and they'll help you." Katniss assures them.

"Will I look as pretty as you?" Jaida asks, and Katniss blushes.

"Even prettier." she states confidently, though I don't know if I can agree with that statement. Of course I am a little biased, but still-no one would blame me for thinking that no one could be more beautiful than my fiancée.

"Why don't you two get some sleep? I know it's been a long day and you have a long week ahead of you." I declare, and they agree with goodnights.

And a long week it was for all of us. I didn't know that mentoring could be so hard, but it certainly would have helped if I didn't feel like it was hopeless. No wonder Haymitch gave up on trying to mentor his tributes until me-I don't think that he thought anyone had a chance so in his mind mentoring was a waste of his time. But I won't ever be like that; I'll always give it one hundred percent even if I feel that way. If those kids are going to die, then the least I can do is make them believe that I believe in them.

Since they didn't know how to do anything, Katniss and I told them to stick together if they wanted in training and learn as much as they could. And by the way they talked excitedly about their new skills (though I question how great those skills actually are) they seem to be at least trying. My belief in them drops a little further when Jaida comes up with a 4 for her score and Carter a 5, but at least the highest score was only an 8 this year, given to the boy from District 1. You can't expect much more than that from thirteen year olds.

At the interview Jaida played it as a sweet girl who gushed about the Capitol because that was the only thing we could think of for her, and Carter played it as quietly confident. Luckily I don't think it matters too much how they did in their interviews because Katniss and I combined have gotten plenty of sponsors for them by just being us. We went to a few sponsor parties but we soon found out that it wasn't really necessary because we were already so popular, what with us being the two most recent Victors and our wedding coming up in a few months. People will sponsor our tributes just to say that they sponsored our tributes-guess something good can come out of being popular Victors.

On the first day of the Games, Katniss and I went early to the Mentor Room so that I could teach her about the technology and stuff. When Finnick came in about an hour after we got there he came up to us to give both of us a big hug and to tell me that he was chosen to be my best man. I didn't know what a best man was before he told me, but if it had to be anyone up at the front of the aisle standing next to me I would have chosen him myself. He also tells us that Johanna was chosen to be the Maid of Honor, which Katniss rolls her eyes at but accepts it. She's still not that big a fan of Johanna, but it took me time as well to like her. It appears that they basically want all the Victors they can to have a part in this wedding, as Haymitch was asked to walk Katniss down the aisle. It makes good entertainment is all I can guess.

When the arena shows up on the touch screen in front of us an hour before the Games, we quickly find out that the arena is a perfect circle and not very big. The Cornucopia is in the dead center on an island of sand with strips of sand leading to a beach with a jungle all the way to the edges of the arena. And all the tribute stands are in the middle of water-shit.

Katniss and I know how to swim; she learned from her father in the woods as a child and then she taught me around a year after we met. But I'd guess that we are probably the only people in our district that do know how to swim simply because they're isn't anywhere (legal) to swim in District 12. In fact, I'd guess that almost every tribute in these Games aside from the two from District 4 don't have the ability to swim. It appears that this arena was made for District 4-Lucky Finnick. How the fuck do they think they're going to be a Games if only two tributes can swim?

As the countdown begins Katniss squeezes my hand, nervous as hell. The tributes come up in some sort of blue jumpsuit with a purple belt. Most of them look terrified-all except for three who are smiling. Two I'm assuming are the District 4 tributes, and the other one I'm pretty sure is one of the other Careers. As the Games begin, the three smiling tributes easily swim off their platforms and make it to the Cornucopia, where they are semi disappointed to find that there are only weapons. No food, no water. And I'm pretty certain that the water in the arena is saltwater and I never saw a source for fresh water on the arena screen. Where do they expect them to find water? Mentor gifts I suppose, but we can't help them in the first 24 hours so they're on their own until then. Kind of harsh to not give them anything, but I suppose this is the Quarter Quell-no water means more fun for the Capitolites.

A lot of the tributes are still on their platforms, but one, I think from District 8, jumps in and sort of sloppily thrashes through the water, somehow held afloat by the purple belt. I wonder if they knew that it was a floatable material since it was probably made in a District 8 factory. Either way, it assures all the other tributes that the can get off their platforms and most of them jump off themselves.

Jaida jumps off quickly and heads in the opposite direction of the Cornucopia to the beach with the jungle, but Carter incredulously heads straight for it. What the fuck is he doing? I told him to go in the opposite direction of the Cornucopia, not straight towards the bloodbath where three Careers are already armed and fighting! In the end he doesn't even make it-the District 4 girl sees him and throws a trident when he's about ten feet from the island, skewering Cater right in the stomach. He drops into the ocean which turns red around him from his blood and I know he's as good as dead.

My mind goes blank for a moment while guilt and grief immediately wash over me. And I thought Peeta dying was bad. No, Carter was my tribute, and I just watched him die right in front of me after trying to help him all week. Katniss sees how this is affecting me and comes to sit on my lap, trying to comfort me as we both still watch her screen with Jaida. Jaida somehow manages to make it to the beach with the jungle and after spitting out some water, runs for the jungle. Though she doesn't have any supplies or weapons, at least she made it out of the bloodbath alive. If she can make it the first twenty four hours we can send her something since we have all that sponsor money. Katniss breathes a little easier, but I can tell that Carter's death is affecting her too. We stare at each other in guilt and sadness, feeling like we failed. Neither of us speaks for the rest of the bloodbath, not knowing what to say. There aren't really any words we can say to make each other feel better, so we don't try and just hold onto each other for comfort.

The bloodbath kills ten tributes, with all six Careers alive (Who are much more skilled than I thought they would be. When the fuck do they start training those kids? Birth?) and the other eight tributes scattered around the jungle. Jaida wanders around for a while but by nightfall she has settled somewhere far up in the jungle and goes to sleep in a large bush of some sort, waking up about every twenty minutes for the first two hours just to make sure the Careers aren't hunting her. The Careers find a tribute, the boy from District 6 within the first three hours of hunting and easily kill him, his cannon waking up half of the other tributes in horror. Jaida stays awake after this (smart girl) and licks her lips a lot, clearly thirsty for water that I wish we could send right now.

Around midnight there's a bell that rings twelve times and bolt of lightning that goes on for an hour. While we can't figure out what the bells are for, we watch the lightning warily and pray that it doesn't move too far. Or if it does, then hopefully it will bring water to Jaida. Jaida stays up for the whole lightning hour but is quickly fading away in exhaustion, and falls asleep against her will around one thirty in the morning. Katniss and I watch the arena carefully, but the Careers are on the opposite side of the arena from her so she's probably pretty safe from them at least for the night.

She might have been safe from the Careers, but apparently not from the Gamemakers. Around four o'clock there's a dark grey cloud raining on the beach that Jaida is by, and for a minute we hope that it's finally water for her to drink. But our hopes are quickly turned to panic when the commentators announce that it's actually a fog with acid rain. That fog is heading right for Jaida. Shit.

Katniss and I quietly yell at her screen for Jaida to run away and get out of there, but of course it does no good; she can't hear us and we can't help her. In the end the acid rain overtakes her, and she shakes and twitches for a few minutes before her cannon goes off.

Katniss starts crying and I feel the same grief and guilt I felt earlier crush me again. How the fuck could we have lost both of our tributes the first day? We couldn't have been that horrible of mentors, could we? Katniss buries her head into my chest and lets her tears fall onto my shirt, and I rub her back while trying to keep back my frustration at myself. A few minutes later I feel a warm hand on my shoulder and look up to see Finnick with a grime smile.

"I'm sorry." He says quietly and I nod at him. "Why don't you two go up to your room?"

I sigh but Katniss and I get up in silence and I lead her up to our room in the Training Center, trying in vain not to think about our dead tributes as we pass their rooms. We slip into bed but the nightmares come in full force tonight with two new faces haunting my dreams.

The next day we find out from one of the mentors that the arena is a clock with a new Gamemaker horror ending and beginning each hour, repeating twice a day as there are twelve sections. The fog was in the fourth section, the one that killed Jaida. What pisses me off most is that I didn't figure it out myself, not that we could have warned Jaida anyway.

For the rest of the Games Katniss and I help out Finnick along with Johanna right up until the point where the Careers turn on each other when there's only eight left, five Careers and three other tributes. His tribute dies by the hand of the District 1 boy, and as his screen goes black he lets out a sigh and collects himself for a minute before suggesting that the four of us go get something to eat. The four of us spend the last three and a half days of the Games swimming in the pool that I didn't know about or playing games, trying mostly in vain not to think about our failure. When Finnick has to go on his appointments Katniss and I go back to our floor. On the last day of the Games we find out that the boy from District 1 won the Games, and we get on the train that night to go home empty-handed aside from the two simple wooden coffins in the train somewhere.

Our arrival back to District 12 is much different than the past two years. When Katniss and I came back Victors, we were greeted by cheering crowds; now when we come home with two dead tributes it's quiet and the only people that came to greet us are our families. All eight of us plus Haymitch walk back to Victor's Village in silence, knowing that there's really nothing to say.

After the Games Katniss and I try to move on from our failure, not exactly forgetting since they haunt us at night but trying to go about business as usual. We hunt and go to the Hob, luckily no one bringing up the Games to us at all. It doesn't make it alright, but it certainly helps.

Around a month after we came home Cinna came by as a surprise to Katniss's house with her prep team, a photographer, and a large box in tow. The large box contained six wedding dresses, as apparently there was a contest going on for what Katniss would wear at the wedding and these were the final six. The photographer was here to take a picture of Katniss dressed in each one with a different theme and background for each so that the winner could be chosen. I laugh at Katniss's twisted face because she obviously doesn't want to be subjected to this. But my laughter quickly goes away when Cinna warns that if I don't stop laughing I'm next. That thought shuts me up quick and for the rest of the day I just watch.

Her prep team changes her hair and makeup along with every dress, and I can tell it's wearing her out. But she tries not to show it for her audience, who is oohing and aahing the whole time, clearly excited about this. The audience besides me (while I'm not oohing I'm certainly smiling smugly and thinking about how beautiful she looks in them all) consists of Prim, Posy, our mothers and Madge Undersee. Madge is the one I wouldn't quite understand, but she's been hanging around a lot more lately. Katniss said that Madge had always wanted to go into the woods but was too scared to go by herself, so we've been taking her out with us a few times a week after she gets out of school. She's actually pretty good with throwing knives, especially for a townie. And though I still don't like townies all that much, I have to say that Madge is not quite as townie as I originally thought-she's actually alright.

Once the pictures are done there's a knock on the door and Mrs. Everdeen answers it while the rest of us stay in the living room, thinking that it's just another patient.

"Madge?" Mrs. Everdeen calls from the front room, "You're boyfriend's here to walk you home." Boyfriend? I didn't know Madge had a boyfriend. She certainly failed to mention it. Katniss and I look at her questioningly, but she just blushes and goes out of the room to greet her boyfriend.

Katniss and I follow her in interest. We see Madge hugging a boy with blonde hair, and when she comes out of the embrace and holds the boy's hand, Katniss and I freeze, thinking we've seen a ghost. But there's no way it's Peeta; he's been dead for over a year.

"Katniss, Gale, this is Rye Mellark." Madge declares a little nervously. And suddenly I understand why we didn't know about Madge's boyfriend-Rye is Peeta's brother.


	14. Toasting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this chapter has Mature scenes

Gale's POV

"Hello." Rye says with a warm smile. Katniss and I don't respond for a moment, feeling awkward and not really knowing what to say. After all, what do you say to the brother of someone that you were probably partially responsible for dying?

"Hi." Katniss croaks out after a moment of silence.

"Would you walk to my house with us so we can talk? I really do need to get home." Madge pleads almost, so much so that I feel like we have no choice no matter how awkward this is going to be. I nod in confirmation and take Katniss's hand in mine as Madge does the same with Rye and turns out the door. Once she's turned, Katniss and I share a look of disbelief and awkwardness as we follow them.

Once out of the house and in the setting sun of a summer day, I begin with the only thing I can think of, "I…we're sorry."

"Thank you, but you have to know that I don't blame either of you." Rye replies seriously, "If anyone's to blame it's Haymitch…or the Capitol."

My eyebrows raise in astonishment at that last part. A townie hates the Capitol? Well I guess it's sort of understandable seeing as the Capitol is the reason Peeta was there in the first place.

"Actually, I feel guilty as well. I wasn't as brave as you, I didn't even think of taking his place because I didn't want to die. Your sister is a lucky girl." Rye turns to Katniss.

Katniss blushes but murmurs at thanks to him. What do you say to that? Maybe you should have been braver and died? Katniss and I know that we're different from most people, what with us putting our families above ourselves. If anything, Rye's the normal one.

"Rye, tell them." Madge says to him with a knowing look. Rye sighs but gives in with one short chuckle.

"Actually, the reason I picked Madge up today is because she keeps insisting I tell you something. My father misses your squirrels, and we know that you haven't been to the bakery in over a year. Please know that you are welcome to come trade, we don't hold anything against you." Rye states. "Well, except maybe my mother, but between the rest of us it should be alright to come in most of the time." I didn't think about that, how it affected them as well. I bet that the Mellarks haven't had fresh game in over a year, and we always knew that the baker was a kind and generous trader because he loved his squirrel. I glance at Katniss and we decide without words that we should at least try and stop avoiding them at all costs.

"Alright, we'll stop by sometime this week." I tell him, and he nods with a sigh of relief and a smile.

"Thank you." he states. By this time we have come to Madge's house and Katniss and I say goodbye before turning around to go back to Victor's Village. Maybe things don't have to be awkward after all when it comes to tribute's families.

Katniss's POV

A leather bag filled with good foods. A flask with tea, and three sticks made to look like an arrow on the ground to indicate which direction I've gone in. These are the things that I leave for Gale at our regular meeting place the afternoon before we leave for the Capitol for our wedding.

We had told our families that we would spend the night in the woods so that we could get a head start in hunting to trade at the Hob since we would be gone for at least a several days. Actually, we have no clue how long we'll actually be gone or even what day the wedding is. You know for being the 'stars' of this wedding, we sure don't know a lot about it.

But there is one thing that I know for certain; there won't be a toasting. And no one feels officially married in District 12 until after a toasting. It's not the official part that bothers me as much as the implications of what is supposed to happen after a wedding, that night in bed. I've never once in my life, and I don't want my first time to be in the Capitol where I can't be certain that there aren't cameras watching. It would ruin it for me completely and I would feel so awkward because I don't know if someone's watching or not. Besides the fact that I'm still scared-it's almost silly, I know, because I love Gale and I know he loves me. But I can't stop myself from being nervous.

That's part of the reason that I planned this night in the first place. I want to do a toasting, but I want it to be someplace where I'm absolutely positive that there are no cameras. Victor's Village is out because I'm sure there are cameras there (along with the fact that we could never be alone there), and I have a feeling that our normal place might have cameras ever since I won the Games. How else would Snow have known before the Victory tour that we weren't acting like we were dating, even when we were alone? So that only leaves one place that I can think of-the lake and the cement house where I used to go with my father. I haven't been there in years, and I've never shown it to Gale so it should be safe. Actually, I don't really know why I never showed it to Gale. Maybe it was just because it was the last true place for just my father and me. But I want to change that now-I want him there. So that's the place I lead him with my sticks in the ground. He won't know where I'm going, but my feet easily find the familiar path even though I haven't been there in a long time, and in a few hours I'm at the concrete house.

I take a deep breath and get the place ready. Sweep with the twig broom that my father made me when I played house here, which was waiting for me in a corner. Make a mattress of pine needles in one corner and cover them with a blanket I brought in my game bag. Make a fire in the hearth, it's flames warm and inviting despite the summer heat. And finally, change from my hunting clothes into the simple white dress that I brought, something that I found in my enormous closet in Victor's Village. I go outside to gather some wildflowers and come back in to wait for Gale by the fire. The sun is beginning to set so I'm getting worried that he won't show up before dark, but a lot sooner than I expect I sense him at the opening where a door should be and stand up to turn to him with a smile on my face.

He takes in my image, me barefoot in a plain white dress to my knees, my hair down in waves and wildflowers in my hand. He looks at me with that smirk that I love and says, "You know, you're a little early for the wedding."

"But I'm right on time for our toasting." I claim without skipping a beat, though I can still feel myself blush. It's not like me to be this bold about this kind of thing, but this was my idea and I'm not going to give him any reason to doubt me.

Of course I can tell he's surprised by this, which is quite clear from his raised eyebrows and slightly shocked expression. But he's certainly not unhappy about it-in fact, he seems like he's in awe of me and more than ready. He walks over to me slowly, eyes boring into me so intensely that I feel like he can see straight to my soul. My breath quickens with nerves until he's standing right in front of me, not even six inches away. We stare into each other's eyes for I don't know how long before our lips crash together, us coming together like magnets and I forget every last nervous thought that I had at the moment and lose myself in this kiss. It gives me the strength that I wasn't entirely sure I had to actually go through with this tonight and not chicken out. I'm ready.

When we break apart I rummage through the bag that I left him to pull out the raison and nut loaf that I bought from the bakery earlier. I still don't like going there even now when I know that the baker and Rye assured me several times that it's alright, that they don't blame me for Peeta's death. Even with their forgiveness I still can't forgive myself-it's me holding me back, not them. But I steeled myself to go because I needed bread for tonight and we no longer get the grain rations from tesserae because it's not needed anymore. When I looked in the window the first time I quickly walked away because it was Mrs. Mellark. Even before my Games I knew she was something of a mean lady, but especially since even Rye warned me not to get near her I'm not even going to give her an opportunity to speak to me or worse. I went back about an hour later and luckily it was Mr. Mellark this time. I traded him as fast as I could for the bread and left for the woods.

Gale and I say our short vows, just simple words for this simple ceremony. But it's alright that it's not much-we always communicated without words better anyway, and every last word we say in those vows is weighted down with love and mean so much more. Gale tears two pieces of the loaf off and we each toast one on sticks that I brought in. We feed each other our pieces of toasted bread and seal it with a kiss.

I'm married. I'm no longer an Everdeen, and I never will be again. You would think that this would terrify me since I only gave into my desires against my past decisions about relationships and marriage and kids. But I'm not-the only thing I can feel at this moment is sheer joy. Joy in the fact that Gale is mine and I am his, and now I have the name to prove it.

My joy falters to anxiety and a little fear when Gale pulls me towards the makeshift bed. I realize that this was basically the point of me planning this toasting out here tonight, but it doesn't do much for my nerves regardless.

For my sake he takes it slow, kissing my lips for a long time before venturing further, down my neck and the part of my collarbone exposed from my dress. My hands explore him while he makes me moan with his kisses, somehow managing to find all the sensitive areas and kissing and licking them much to my pleasure. My palms caress his warm skin under his shirt, relishing in his smooth skin on his back, chest and stomach that are such contrast with his rough, calloused hands. But they don't feel really rough when they're on my skin-I welcome them, loving the way it feels on my Capitolmade silk skin. Eventually he begins unzipping my dress and I help him pull off his shirt.

As soon as I do I stare at him in awe, the muscles of his chest and stomach defined and toned from years of hunting and better fed in the last few years. He chuckles.

"Like what you see?"

I bit my lip and nod, and he helps me out of my dress. Now the only thing holding me back from being naked is my bra and underwear. Without another word, Gale rakes in my image and quietly takes his pants off. He kisses me again and his nimble fingers caress my back before I feel his hands come to the clasp of my bra, but I stop him. He looks at me confused, but my eyes tell him to wait. I want him to know that he's not taking me; I'm giving myself to him. I unclasp my bra myself and close my eyes, feeling exposed and self-conscious despite my intent. I wait for a sound of disgust or disliking, but find none. Instead, I feel his hand come to rest on my cheek and I slowly open my eyes to find him staring right at me so intensely that it would make me cringe if I didn't see the love there too.

"You're so beautiful Katniss." He states so matter of factly and almost in reverence that I have no choice to believe him, that it's not just to make me feel better. I give him a small smile and the kissing becomes more intense now. His mouth leaves mine and I'm about to protest until he starts kissing lower and lower, and I decide to shut up and let him do whatever he's doing because it feels so good. My head goes back with a moan of delight as he licks and sucks on one of my breasts while rubbing the other with his hand, and switching at some point. They feel tender and hard and so sensitive, but I can't even speak words at this moment other than crying out his name. I want him to stop and keep going all the same time, to go lower and explore further.

And further he goes, pressing a trail of kisses down my chest and stomach before coming to my underwear. He teases me for a minute by just putting his hands under the waistband before pulling them clean off. I don't even have time to think about how I feel that I'm stark naked because his finger goes inside of me in a pleasure-building rhythm and I can't think anymore, the feel of his hand going in and out of me completely blanking out my mind as I make noises and moan his name over and over. The tension builds until suddenly I feel like I can't take it anymore, and then I'm completely consumed in waves of white heat, sending my vision first into blackness and then seeing stars as I feel the best I ever have in my entire life.

I'm breathing hard when my vision comes back to normal, and the first thing I see is Gale's smug smirk. I can't believe he did that-I didn't even know something like that could happen to you, but I have to say that I loved it. And suddenly I want to make him feel the same way, repay him for the pleasure he gave me. Suddenly making him feel good is the most important thing in the world.

I glance down at his boxers once and place a trail of kisses on him much like he did to me, his breath hitching and moaning my name, which only makes me want to go further, do more. When I get down to the waistline of his boxers, it's quite evident how hard he. I lip my lips unconsciously and place my hands on his boxers to pull them off. I glance up at him and see that he's nervous, and somehow his own self-consciousness gives me confidence. I pull them down with steely resolve. Resolve that falters somewhat when he's exposed. That's supposed to fit where? He's going to break me.

He chuckles at my wide eyes, "Don't worry, it'll fit just fine."

"It better." I warn. But I don't give him a chance to try just yet. Instead, I touch it with curiosity. It's smooth and hard beneath my fingers, and I really don't know what to do. Gale smiles at my confusion and helps me, placing his hand on top of mine and gently guiding me up and down. Once I get it, he lets my hand go and I do it myself, his moans of pleasure steeling me further as he begins to somehow get harder under my hand. I go faster and faster until he stops me. I give him a look of questioning but don't have much time to think as he flips me on my back beneath him and starts a quick trail of kisses on me again. I pull his hair to bring his lips up to mine and he indulges me in a deep, burning kiss that heats my whole body, especially with our naked skin pressed against each other like it is.

He breaks the kiss and hovers over me for a second, staring into my eyes to make sure I'm ready. I assure him with my eyes that I am, that I want this and he crashing his mouth back to mine, stealing the cries from me as he presses his length into me until our hips meet, indicating that we are joined completely. It does hurt and I'm really tense, but he just kisses my face and lets me adjust before moving any. Maybe I minute later the pain subsides a little and I feel myself relax, my legs slackening from where they are locked around his waist. He takes this as a cue to start a slow intoxicating pace which I quickly match. At some point I start yelling faster and harder through my moans and our kisses, not entirely knowing where it's coming from, my body evidently taking over my mind and I listen to it. Gale does what I ask and I can't complain. He brings me right over the edge again with one hard thrust and soon I feel the same white heat take over me again, and when I'm coming down from my ecstasy high I feel Gale harden again and release his own ecstasy.

We both breathe hard, catching our breaths and holding each other. I never knew that this could be this good. It makes me wonder why I never wanted this before. I can't be happy enough that I decided that I wanted to do this tonight and not in the Capitol now. Now it's a memory that is just ours, not something that might have been recorded or watched by someone in the Capitol. A memory I will treasure for the rest of my life. When Gale looks at me I lean up to kiss him hard which he returns happily, and we smile at each other through our racing hearts calming down and our slowly coming back to normal breathing.

Gale looks at me for a minute and chuckles, "Did you enjoy that Mrs. Hawthorne?"

I nearly jump at the sound of my new name; that will take some getting used to. But instead of answering him I kiss him deeply and I soon find out that I want more. And so it begins again…


	15. Glowing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, abnormally fluffy for my writing.

Katniss's POV

"You look beautiful. Absolutely stunning." Cinna tells me in awe, clearly proud of his wedding dress design and the dress that the Capitol voted on me wearing today. I open my eyes and even though I've never thought of my appearance too much (when you're constantly hunting and thinking about ways to keep you and your family from starving, your looks are pretty low on your priority scale), I have to agree with him. I know I tried on this dress two months ago, but even then it was my favorite of the six I was forced into. A long, flowing dress that shows off my tiny waist to advantage and sleeveless, the entire thing dotted and patterned with pearls and diamonds to compliment my engagement ring and a veil that trails behind me secured into my complicated hairstyle.

"Thank you Cinna. I don't know how you do it." I say in absolute sincerity. I can't thank Cinna enough for all he's done, but he always waves it off as if it's no big deal, that he's lucky to have me to dress. Much like he does now.

"I'm just lucky to have you as my inspiration." he says with a warm smile, and fluffs up my veil before leading me down to where the wedding is taking place while I yawn tiredly, hoping that I don't show my sleepiness during the actual wedding. It's about time that we have the wedding-Gale and I got here five days ago and have been tortured by (I mean been to) countless interviews, parties, rehearsals, and dinners. Every night we've been exhausted, but by the time we get to bed and we give each other a blush that compliments a look of pure desire, we end up making love half the night instead of sleeping and it's definitely taking its toll on me. My cheeks flush just thinking about it, especially since that's what's expected of us tonight. Wouldn't it be funny if all we did tonight was catch up on sleep instead? It makes me glad that we're already married and this is really just a show because now I'm not too worried about it.

Cinna gives my appearance one last look over before seeming satisfied that I look perfect before kissing my cheek. "Go get him, Girl on Fire."

I smile at him as he walks away into the church and open the door to the waiting room. In there I find Johanna looking stunning in a bright red gown and her hair curled. She looks at me and gives me a once over before saying, "Not bad. I wish I had Cinna as my stylist."

"He's the best." I say, singing Cinna's praises. I don't know if she's being entirely sincere or just messing with me. I like her better than I did when I first met her, but only by a little. Once Gale told me her story about having no one she loves left and such I understood her better, but it still doesn't mean that we're friends or anything. More like acquaintances I guess.

She nods in agreement and turns back to the mirror in front of her. "Maybe he's doing such a good job because you've been glowing all week."

"Well you know, I am getting married." I point out, blushing. I remember something about my mother saying brides have a wedding glow to them on their wedding day, but this isn't technically mine. Well, not the first one anyway.

"Oh no, that's not a wedding glow." Johanna states, turning to me and studying me. She gets a knowing smirk on her face, "That's a sex glow."

I blush furiously at that. Am I really glowing, or did she find out somehow? "How'd you know?" I manage to ask shyly.

She laughs, "Oh, I could just tell. Good for you. I thought you were so pure, but it seems I was actually wrong about that one."

I'm about to question her what exactly her thinking I was too pure or whatever meant, but there's a knock on the door and suddenly I'm nervous for some reason. Is it time already? Johanna opens the door and I see the wedding planner.

"Oh good. Johanna, we need you for a few minutes to get the flowers right. It's the door to the left over there." Johanna nods and gives me one more smile at our conversation before doing what the man said. The wedding planner comes over to me with a warm smile on his face.

"Katniss, darling! How we doing? Nervous?" he asks. I think about that for a moment. I shouldn't be that nervous, but there are going to be a lot of cameras and people in that church. And the whole of Panem watching…

"A little I guess." I admit.

He puts his hand on his chin, "Hmm, well we can't have that. We need you to look like you're in pure joy, not nervous at all. It will totally ruin it for the cameras!"

I almost roll my eyes at his statement, but refrain from it just barely. Really, you're blaming me for being a little nervous just because it won't look good for the television? I mean I knew that the deal was to be entertainment, but come on-I think I'm feeling pretty normal under the circumstances. The wedding planner holds up one finger indicating I should wait, and whips out his pocket phone to call someone. He speaks so fast that I miss most of the conversation, but I do hear the word doctor in there. When he hangs up, I question him.

"Doctor?" I ask nervously. What do I need a doctor for?

"Yes, Dr. Musa. He's just wonderful, and he has something to help you. The nerves will go away completely and you will be positively glowing with happiness all night for the cameras-promise." he says, and I would argue with him but I have a feeling it will be in vain. Oh well, I don't really need it but I guess it won't affect me too much then. As long as it shuts him up I'll do it.

"Alright." I say, and we wait for the doctor to come. He's there about five minutes later (I think he might have been a guest in the church) in a tux and carrying a medical briefcase, one I'm assuming that he got from his car or something since it would be weird to have that in the church. He smiles at me and pulls out a syringe of orange liquid. A needle? I thought it would be medicine.

The doctor gives me a smile, "Don't worry, it won't hurt too much and it will make your nerves go right away. I've even brought something to make the pain and the mark instantly disappear since it is your wedding day."

"Okay." I say, still wary but let him go on with it. It pinches my arm where he does it, but luckily he's quick and all the orange liquid is in me and the needle out within seconds. The doctor wipes the spot where the needle was with a wipe and all of a sudden it's like it never happened; no mark, no pain.

"There, feel better?" he asks.

"Yeah." I lie. I didn't really need it anyway, but if I tell him the truth then he might give me something else and I don't want that. He gives me a smile and leaves.

"Katniss darling, it's time!" the planner exclaims as the doctor is leaving, and helps me up to fluff out my dress before leading me to the doors of the church. Haymitch and Johanna are waiting there, Johanna with two bouquets in her hands and Haymitch pulling on the collar of his tux, clearly not enjoying being so dressed up. Johanna hands me one of the bouquets and Haymitch gives me a genuine smile (the first I've probably ever seen on him).

"Ready sweetheart?" he says, and I nod with a smile.

Johanna goes in first, and after about thirty seconds the wedding planner indicates that it's time. Haymitch tucks my arm in his and the wedding planner throws the doors open, cameras flashing and gasps of delight immediately overwhelming me. But when I can focus again I catch sight of Gale waiting for me at the end of the aisle with an expression of sheer joy and desire heating my entire being. All I can feel at this moment staring back at him with a smile on my face is happiness. I don't know if it's that orange stuff actually working or just me looking at Gale, but I can't complain as I look only at him the entire way down the aisle.

Haymitch offers Gale my hand and backs away, and the ceremony begins as Gale and I face the priest. We say the vows that the Capitol gave to us, repeating after the priest. We do some sort of candle tradition too, one where we each have our own candle and simultaneously light one candle with our own together, indicating that we are now joined as one. Then we exchange rings, Gale sliding mine onto the same finger as the one my engagement ring is on and me sliding his onto his left ring finger. The priest announces us husband and wife and tells Gale to kiss his bride. We share a searing kiss before coming up for air with matched glowing expressions. He announces us as Mr. and Mrs. Gale Hawthorne and we go down the aisle together and kiss again halfway down, cameras flashing and cheering from the seats. Now we're married again, but this time the whole of Panem knows it. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

Of course that resolve goes away slightly when we are lead to President Snow's mansion for the reception afterwards. All the extravagance almost makes me sick-and I thought that during the Victory tour it was bad here. That was nothing.

Aside from the maybe two thousand people here (of which I know pretty much only the Victors, my prep team, Effie, Cinna and Portia) who are dressed ridiculously fancy, the actual place is what makes me cringe the most in disgust. Starting with the food-there must be at least four hundred tables, all with enough food and drink that I would guess that it could easily feed three districts with some to spare. And the decorations-are those real gems and silks? For god's sake, it's a wedding, and those decorations probably won't ever be used again. And the glasses for champagne with Gale and my names and the date written in gold on the glass and each have a stem with alternating pearls, rubies, and diamonds-a gift for every guest here. All of this is so ridiculous and extravagant that my happiness goes down a few notches from my anger. It makes me glad that Gale and I did our toasting already-so simple, sweet, and intimate that it was far more perfect than this could ever be.

The night goes by with cameras flashing as people take pictures with us, speeches and toasts(of which Finnick's was by far the best), eating when we can (even with all the food making Gale and I angry, it was still too good to pass up), dancing, and talking with people we don't know all night. At some point I kicked off my heels, as wearing them for hours without sitting down was killing my feet. Luckily my dress covered my shoes so no one would know that I wasn't wearing any unless they realized I was about three inches shorter all of a sudden. And to be honest, I wouldn't really care if they did, because the relief from being barefoot after those heels feels so good that I wouldn't do anything about it.

Around midnight Effie tells us that we have half an hour to say goodbyes before Gale and I leave for our honeymoon suite, and we start with the Victors since we actually know and like some of them. Around the time we get to Seeder, our fifth goodbye, a peacekeeper comes up to us.

"Your presence is requested by the President. Follow me." he says, and with one shared look with Gale we try and fail to figure out what this is about before following the peacekeeper.

He leads us up the stairs and through the maze of the mansion before stopping at a rather plain looking door for all the extravagance here and opening it for us. We go in and I'm actually surprised to see that Snow's office is rather well…plain looking for the Capitol. Somehow I expected it to be like the rest of this city. I think that the fact that it isn't makes me more wary than if it was.

Snow looks up from the pile of papers he was reading with a fake smile, "Well if it isn't the newlyweds. Please, sit down."

We do as he tells us, Gale keeping my hand in his even as we sit down, and I squeeze it in return. We wait for Snow to speak, "Well done, I must say. It was a splendid show."

"Thank you." Gale says warily, evidently not knowing where Snow is going with this anymore than I do. He couldn't possibly have summoned us here just to praise us; he's always a man with a purpose I've found, and that purpose almost never turns out to be good for anyone but himself.

"I've made a fortune off you two with this wedding, much more than I would have made in you doing appointments." Snow continues. Gale and I both just stare at him silently, not knowing what to say or wanting to say anything. Snow isn't one to gloat either, so what seems like gloating now must be the prelude to something else-most likely another 'request' of his for us. Although even then, I'm glad that Snow has admitted that appointments wouldn't have been the best option, even if it is simply for his greed.

"Which brings us to my next request for you." he moves on when it's clear that Gale and I aren't going to say anything. I knew it. "Now comes the next step, one that I'm certain will have plenty of excitement for my people that only you can give them."

"What's that?" I question, breaking my silence because of my sheer curiosity.

"First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes…" Snow tells me, using a childhood taunt to explain.

"A baby?" Gale asks, knowing as well as I do that's what comes next in the mocking joke and our lives apparently. Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.

"Precisely. Here's the deal. Every year you fail to get pregnant until you do, a family member will be lost to you. Understand?" Snow states, staring right at me, not Gale. I try to hold in my fear, my utter terror. Does he know that this is precisely what I fear the most? That I'm sure that if Gale and I have a child they will more surely be in the Games than the sun rising every morning? I never wanted kids in the first place, and while I've evidently changed my mind on love and marriage (though I guess it seems like that was forced up to this point even though it really wasn't), I still don't want kids-ever. And now that is really being forced on me. It's one thing when it's something I have to do to keep my family safe-it's quite another when doing just that entails making my greatest fear come alive-quite literally in my case.

I nod, not trusting my voice right now. I know exactly what this means-he's going to put our child in the Hunger Games more likely than not, because that will be the 'next step for entertainment.' It's exactly what I've feared, what I've only voiced in bed with Gale at night. Could that be how Snow knows that this is what I fear most? Is that why he's looking directly at me and not Gale? I wonder if there really are bugs or cameras in the bedrooms in Victor's Village-it makes me cringe to believe so. They couldn't leave us one place of privacy?

"Good. Now I believe that your ride is here. Happy wedding night!" he says with a smile that I want to punch off his face.

Gale and I get up from our seats, and I try to hold in my shaking from this meeting. But Gale evidently notices my trembling hand in his, because when we get in the car he holds me while I try not to cry, because I'm certain there will be cameras filming us when we get out of the car.

I'm right about the cameras, and I put on my best fake smile while the wedding planner leads us up to our room and says goodnight with a wink and a grin before shutting the door behind us. Once he leaves I finally let the tears fall.

"Shh it's okay Catnip. It'll be okay." Gale whispers to me while letting my tears soak his suit, rubbing circles on my back and pressing gentle kisses in my hair.

"It won't be okay." I half yell, half mumble trough my tears, "You know what this means."

"Yeah, I do." Gale states so matter-of-factly that I look up at him in astonishment. "And you know what? It doesn't matter."

"How can you say that?" I question as a whisper, angry with his attitude. As if it doesn't matter that our future child is going into the Hunger Games.

"Because we'll train them-help them. Make them such a fighter that they have to win." he tells me with such determination that I have to believe him despite still being wary about the whole thing. I guess in a way he's right. Knowing what will most likely happen means that we can prepare-and we can prepare them for years and years, teaching them all we know. Snow be damned, we can teach them to win.

I give him a small smile and he kisses my tears on my cheeks before pressing his lips against mine for a long, hard kiss. He starts pulling me towards the bed and I look up at him, breaking the kiss.

"President's orders." Gale says with a grin.

I let out a small laugh. I guess he's right, Snow basically ordered us to bed-something we both enjoy for once. "Since when do you willingly take orders from the President?"

Gale gives me that smirk I love, "Since his thoughts are in line with mine for once." And with that he pulls me into another deep kiss and we do exactly that. I'm still feeling terrified about the whole thing, but first thing's first to keep our families safe. President's orders, you know.


	16. Frustration

Gale's POV

The first nine months of marriage are not exactly what I expected them to be to say the least.

Oh sure, the first three or four months were great-Katniss and I were living by ourselves in her (I mean our) house in Victor's Village and Prim and her mother moved next door to my allotted house with my family. We hunted every day, had dinner with our families, occasionally went to the woods with Madge and Rye (who we're still getting used to hanging around, but it's getting a little easier not feeling so damn guilty around him), and going to bed together nearly every night with a knowing grin for what was to come. We weren't even worrying too much about Snow's 'request' for us, though the implications of what would happen if we didn't succeed still weighed on us. I mean what did we really have to worry about? We were young, well fed, and certainly having fun for once with the means of doing Snow's requests. But when it became more and more clear over the months that nothing was happening, we got more and more frustrated.

At first we were just turning our frustration on Snow because he was stressing us to do this and that might have something to do with it, but it wasn't really stressful for us in bed so that was out. Then we started blaming each other and eventually, ourselves. Oh sure we didn't say it outright, but we know each other too well to not know. As thus, our relationship has become strained which also frustrates me. Damn Snow-he couldn't just let us enjoy one year of marriage before dumping this 'request' on us? What makes it shittier is that I know that Katniss is still terrified to have a child and she's trying to make her greatest fear happen. And that not happening is making it worse.

So here we are, on our way to the 76th Hunger Games with our tributes somewhere in the train, in our room in silence. It would be an awful day anyway, what with it being the reaping and everything, but it just makes it worse that we should be happy and we aren't really. Luckily Rory, Prim, and Vick (who was in his first reaping this year) were all safe, or I don't know what that would have done to us. Certainly nothing good. Instead we have an extremely frightened fourteen year old Seam boy and a sixteen year old girl from the Community House whom I can count her ribs. I hate to say it (and sound like Haymitch), but I really don't think that either of them have a chance in hell. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to help them, but my expectations are low. I feel like a monster even thinking that and it just builds my frustration at the world even higher.

Another part of my frustration is that we have about three months to get pregnant or Snow will undoubtedly make good on his threat to kill a family member. It makes me pull my hair out just thinking that one of them died and knowing it was my fault. And the fact that I'm well aware I couldn't do anything about makes me despise the whole thing just a little more. Oh sure we could try to hide them or keep them safe, but somehow I know that wouldn't stop Snow. If anything, it would probably just resolve him to punish us more. Must be nice to have so much power.

And he uses that power well, and makes it look like he's so modest about it, evidence being the Opening Ceremony. He waves and gives the crowd a grateful smile, like he's the one who should be cheering for them because they allowed him to be in this position. Allowed my ass-that man will do anything and everything to stay in power I'd bet. And he wields it well to, as much as I hate to admit. He's certainly perfected making his puppets miserable with his power. Even Finnick is a little down this year, the appointments that he has to go on increased in the last year. It appears that being my best man at the wedding made him even more popular and he's told me that he's been to the Capitol almost as much as he's been at home this past year. He says he doesn't blame me in the least but I can't help feeling a little guilty about it.

It also doesn't help that this year's tributes aren't really anything too special, meaning that the Gamemakers will have plenty to do to keep the Games interesting. Both of our tributes came up with a five in training and didn't make much of an impression at the interviews. We still got them sponsors by just being us, but I don't know how many more years I can count on that. The highest score this year was a nine, all the Careers getting between seven and nine as their scores. Even that doesn't raise my hopes too much with our tributes though-in fact, I had more hope last year and they were both thirteen; and they both fucking died the first day.

So do our tributes this year, much like I predicted. In fact, Katniss and I last less than an hour this year as mentors, both our tributes dying in the bloodbath. It's still horrible and I'm still frustrated that I'm probably a horrible mentor after all, but it's slightly better when I didn't really have hope to begin with. Oh fuck, I really am turning into Haymitch-at least I'm not a drunk…yet. No, I'll never get to that point. Besides, I have Katniss and we have our families; Haymitch doesn't have any of that.

Katniss and I alternate between helping out Finnick and Johanna (who surprisingly even to her has a tribute this year alive still) for the next few days. When Johanna's girl tribute dies at the hands of the Careers on the third day, she tosses her now blank tablet onto the table and we collect Katniss at District 4's station before going to breakfast.

Katniss's POV

"Argh." I complain when I'm in the bathroom during breakfast, completely frustrated with myself. Why on earth am I not pregnant yet? It shouldn't be this hard. And what makes it worse is that I don't even really want a kid still-I'm only frustrated because I don't want anyone to die because of me. Not after all I've done to keep them alive just to fail from this. My still flat stomach, my frustration, and my damn period which has evidently started today, indicating that another month has positively come again where I've failed miserably.

I kick open the door and yell at it "Stupid period." I know it's ridiculous to take out my frustration on an inanimate object, but at least that doesn't talk back. Now I have to tell Gale that we've failed yet another month and we're already not doing super. This is just going to stress us both out even more-as if it wasn't bad enough that we lost both tributes in the bloodbath this year.

"Fact of life, brainless. You can't avoid it." I hear Johanna say from somewhere. Shoot, I didn't think anyone else was in here.

I turn around and see her leaning against the wall, a slightly amused expression on her face at my frustration. I ignore her and go to was my hands, "There's one way to avoid it." I mumble under my breath.

"What, being pregnant?" Johanna asks, somewhat surprised. How did she even hear me? Did the Capitol give her super hearing abilities or something when she came out of the arena? "Never took you for one who wanted kids." she muses.

"I don't." I reply. She gives me a look that says Do explain. I don't know why because we aren't really even friends and it's not really her business, but I'm thinking about telling her. It would be nice to have someone to take out my frustration on other than Gale or a door after all…

"Snow. It's his next 'request' for us." I state vaguely, knowing that she at least knows about the requests thing instead of appointments. After all, she apparently had a hand in helping making that possible during my Games.

"And the consequences?" she questions.

"If not for a year a family member." I say, and she nods in response, knowing what I'm saying.

"When did this year start?" she asks.

"The wedding."

Johanna nods like she was expecting this. Then she thinks something over. "You really shouldn't be having problems then…anything unusual happen during that week?"

I think back, "Um…let's see. The ridiculousness of the extravagance?"

Johanna snorts, "Nah, that's pretty normal here."

"The bachelorette party?" I state, still blushing at what went on there. That was definitely something I could have lived without.

Johanna actually laughs at that one, "That's part of the reason I thought you were so pure because of all your blushing, but all brides here apparently have those parties. Anything else?"

"Um…well I don't know if it was really, but the wedding planner said I was nervous and that wasn't good for the cameras so he called a doctor." I state, "I didn't really think I needed it but they insisted."

"Doctor?" she says, that instantly grabbing her attention.

"Yeah, it was right after you left to take care of the flowers or something. The doctor injected some kind of liquid into me and said I would be glowing with happiness all night." I tell her, remembering that he said something like that.

"The liquid…was it orange?" Johanna asks warily, eyes boring into me.

"Yeah…how'd you know?" I question her, astonished. How could she have possibly guessed the color of the liquid? She wasn't there and I have never mentioned it to anyone, not even Gale. I would have told him, but I sort of forgot with everything that happened that night.

"Katniss, that wasn't for nerves." Johanna tells me, her anger rising.

"What?"

"I've had that orange liquid in my system too. Back when I was doing appointments…" Johanna tells me, her fists clenching and eyes darkening in remembrance.

"What? What is it?" I ask with tension, half panicking. I need to know and I really don't want to at the same time. What on earth did that doctor put in me?

"Birth control-good for a year." She states, every word weighted with anger and knowing. And suddenly my anger and frustration boils to the surface as I realize what this means.

"What the? Snow! He freaking knew it-he planned for us to fail!" I half yell, wanting to kill something-preferably Snow.

"Sounds like it." Johanna murmurs, clearly almost as pissed as I am even though it doesn't involve her. Maybe she just hates Snow like I do or takes anything she can to focus her anger on.

In my anger I punch the wall since I can't kill Snow how I really want to. It really hurts too-I hadn't realized that the walls were made out of cement and not drywall, and I hit it with force; I'm almost positive something is broken in my hand. Not that it really matters, as I collapse to the floor and start sobbing through my anger. I can't believe I didn't see that coming-Snow would have never made it easy for us, not after we so easily did all his other requests. In fact, maybe that's the reason why he had the doctor give me that birth control; so he could be absolutely positive that we would fail. So that he could punish us in the way he has wanted to for almost two years.

I hadn't realized that Johanna had left until Gale is on the floor worried about me, trying to comfort me even though he obviously doesn't know what's wrong. He asks me repeatedly but I can't get it out, so I hear Johanna from somewhere tell him.

"Snow set you up to fail-doctor gave her birth control good for a year." she explains.

Gale goes tense, clearly in shock-though at Johanna knowing or just processing the news I don't know. Maybe both. "That fucking assho-"

"Hey, there are probably cameras in here." she warns him, clearly thinking that the string of curse words and insults that I'm sure were about to come out of his mouth would catch someone's attention if my outburst hasn't already. It's so unlike Johanna to warn against something like this that shuts Gale up but I can tell he's still boiling over with frustration and anger much like I am. At least he's not sobbing though-I never used to cry, what's with me? At least I didn't before the Games…not something I necessarily would have wanted to change about myself, but apparently it did. That annoys me just a little bit more, so I add it to my already heightened anger because I might as well.

"Is there anything at all to fix it?" Gale questions desperately, clearly thinking the same as I am; is there any way possible to turn this around in the next three months to save a family member from sure death?

"Not that I know of." she replies honestly, but I can tell she regrets it. Hmm, she really must like Gale as a friend if she's regretting how he feels. "But I do have an idea."

She gestures for us to get up and follow her, and curious, we do. She leads us to the elevator but mysteriously presses the button for the sixth floor, not the seventh or twelfth like I would have guessed. Who from District 6 could she possibly want to see?

As the elevator opens to that floor, we are greets by footsteps which stop in sheer confusion. It's a man in his mid-twenties who's rather plain looking. In fact, the only reason I remember him is because he was the only Victor I'd met from District 6 that wasn't a morphling addict.

"I think you have the wrong floor." he says, trying not to make us feel like we're stupid.

"Oh no, we have the right floor. You're just the man I was looking for." Johanna states, all business. The man is evidently even more confused by this and glances nervously at Johanna. I have a feeling that he's really not her biggest fan either, much like a lot of Victors. And if that's true, then why did Johanna bring us here to him?

"What can I help you with?" he questions, clearly on his guard.

"Not here. Somewhere safe." Johanna tells him. It's clear the man is still confused but he seems to know what 'safe' means. He gestures for us to follow him and leads us to a bedroom and into the bathroom there. He turns on the water of the shower and leaves the door of it open, apparently so it will muffle our voices.

"You still play around with that medical stuff?" Johanna asks, whispering but clearly demanding that the man pay attention to her.

"I wouldn't exactly call it playing, but yes." he says.

"Do you have some here now?" Johanna questions.

"I always have some with me." he states, clearly even more confused by what's going on, "Why do you ask?"

Johanna gestures for Gale and me to explain what we just discovered. I really don't know why we're here still or why Johanna thinks this man can help, but she wouldn't have brought us here unless she thought it could. And I really would like the least people possible to know what's going on with us because it's kind of personal. But I guess Gale trusts this man can help at least a little, because he fills him in.

"Is there any way to make it go away before September?" I ask after the man (who Gale called Duncan-I couldn't remember his name but apparently Gale did) almost desperately after he stares into space for a few minutes when Gale is done telling him.

Duncan comes out of his daze and gives me a sad smile, "Unfortunately no. I'm so sorry."

I must look like I'm about to cry again because he quickly reassures me, "But if they try to give it to you again I can help."

"How?" Gale asks, clearly angry that there's nothing we can do until then.

"I can give you the same standard syringe filled with liquid that they use but instead fill it with a saline solution and dye it the same color." Duncan declares.

"What would that do?" I ask, not knowing what saline is or anything with real medicine really. Herbs-yes, but they don't use those here.

"Saline will do absolutely nothing to you. It will even dilute the small amount of remaining solution from the year before." Duncan explains, "Which means it gives you a fair chance in the next year."

"But how will she get that instead? If the doctor gives her his syringe it won't matter what she does with yours." Gale points out.

"You'll have to switch them then. Distract the doctor long enough for you to trade the two so he administers the saline instead without his knowledge." Duncan states.

"I could do that." I state, jumping on his plan.

Duncan nods and tells me to come back in about an hour for the saline solution. It's not the best strategy or solution, but it's at least something. The thing that frustrates me most is that Snow is winning this round and it's on me and Gale's heads that a family member is going to die. I cringe and get angrier just thinking about that. But perhaps there's a way to avoid it. If Snow can cheat the system with this request, then maybe we can cheat his-with more than just a syringe.


	17. Death

Madge's POV

"Please Father, I want to go! I want to help." I cry, desperate to do something about this. I've known about it my whole life and now I want to do something myself.

"Madge, it could be dangerous!" my father claims.

"I'm eighteen years old father. I'm an adult and I'm able to make my own decisions." I claim. How does he not see that I can help this rebellion along? District 13 needs people because they had another round of sickness that decimated their population, meaning they can't help with the rebellion too much any time soon. Which means they're looking for people to come-people like me. Young but old enough to do things-important things.

"Maybe we should let her go." Haymitch muses. He had come over to our safe room to tell us this information, "Her job currently won't be too helpful for the time if the rebellion doesn't happen for a while."

My job now-to basically hang out with Katniss and Gale, the two people that the rebellion wants as their symbols, their leaders. They wanted someone to make sure that they don't know anything at all in the off chance that they were caught so it didn't ruin the whole thing. And they chose me because I was already sort of friends with Katniss. Personally I would think that them knowing would be helpful, but I have a feeling the blame would be on me if something happened and I don't want that.

My father shakes his head, "What about Rye?" he asks me. I try not to gulp. Rye-Father's using him as ammunition to get me to not go. Rye and I are currently engaged, our toasting to be in a few weeks. He knows that I won't leave him behind, and I really don't want to.

"He could come with me." I state. Really, there's no reason not to bring him. Especially since 13 needs soldiers and they need people. Rye may be a baker, but he's strong and I know he'd be willing to be a rebel after what happened to Peeta. I was going to bring the subject up once we were married anyway.

"We can't send you at the same time." Haymitch claims.

"Why not?" I ask, confused but at least he didn't outright say no. Maybe he does think that Rye coming to 13 would be a good thing too.

"Because you're too well known. If you are going to succeed in getting away, then you'll have to fake your death." Haymitch explains, "And if anyone else dies or seems involved with that, people will get suspicious."

"Which means that Rye can't know it's fake." Father points out. I can tell he's still not quite on board, but at least he seems to realize that I'm a big girl and I can make my own decisions, no matter how much he doesn't like it.

Fake my death. It seems so horrible to do that to everyone, but at least my parents will be safe in the knowledge that I'm alive. But Rye…how can I do that to him? He'll be completely heartbroken, and I'd hate myself for putting him in that much pain. Besides, I know he would never just believe Haymitch or my father that I was alive-not without proof from me anyway.

"What if I wrote him a letter explaining to him that I'm alive and I want him to join me?" I question, the only thing that I can see working. If it's my handwriting, he'll have to believe it. He just has to.

"That could work." Haymitch muses and I light up. Yes, Rye can come with me. It may be later than I would like but he'll come-I know he will. And then we can get married in 13 just like we've already planned. "But now we have to come up with a way to kill you."

"Sickness?" I ask. I can't believe we're discussing ways for me to die. Even if I know it's fake it still makes me cringe. Only a monster could possibly talk about death nonchalantly, and none of us here are monsters.

"No, we would have to call the Mrs. Everdeen and she would know it's fake. They would all get suspicious." Father claims to me with a frown a little awkwardly. He doesn't like discussing any more than I do. Since I don't know what else to do that wouldn't involve Mrs. Everdeen and apparently neither does anyone else at the moment, we all stay silent and think hard.

"An accident. One where we knew it was too late to help you so you didn't go get her." Haymitch exclaims after a minute.

I nod in agreement and we discuss just how to do that for the next hour or so. We have to make it good and we have to make sure everyone believes that I'm dead before I can escape. Luckily I have somewhere to hide until then. I hate all the pain I'm putting everyone through, even my parents who will know it's fake. Especially Rye. My heart breaks for what I'm going to do to him, but I have to do this. For Panem.

Gale's POV

My face goes white when my mother calls to tell us that Posy's sick. "It's too early." I exclaim to Katniss, horrified. I know that Posy is sick a lot, but I have a feeling that Snow had something to do with this one. My baby sister? He was already a horrible devil of a man, but how could he even want to kill a little girl? She's six. Who would punish people by killing a six year old?

Snow would. He would do it gladly to punish me, punish Katniss. Because we're failing and are going to fail at his request because he made it so. I fucking hate that man more than anything. And you know what? I sort of hate myself too-because I'll feel like I have Posy's blood on my hands, and that makes feel like a monster.

"He knew we would fail. Why would it matter if it's a week early?" Katniss points out bitterly on our way over to visit Posy. I guess in a way she's right. After all, why wait until the exact day when he knows what's going on? He would want us to see it, be in pain with whoever he chose. Us knowing that this is our fault. And he couldn't have succeeded in that if he waited to the day because Katniss and I have to go back to the Capitol for some stupid First Anniversary party.

It was our most recent 'request' from Snow, right before we left the Capitol after the Hunger Games ended. Had we not known about the birth control we wouldn't really think anything of it, just another way for Snow to use us to acquire money. But now we know what it's really for-another year of birth control the doctor claims is something else. Good thing we have our own trick up our sleeves with that one. Duncan had given Katniss not one but four different syringes filled with saline, all different colors. He explained to us that since they would probably come up with some excuse other than nerves, they might change the dye color so Katniss wouldn't get suspicious. So all Katniss has to do is somehow distract the doctor and have him put the syringe down so she can switch it with the same colored saline syringe. At least on that end we have the upperhand. With Posy…

Katniss and I go to my old Victor's Village house where our families live, and we don't leave until we have to for the train. We sleep and eat there and when we're not running errands for Mrs. Everdeen to get herbs or more food, Katniss and I keep vigil by Posy's side. We know there's not much we can do, but the least we can do is be at her side if this is sort of our fault.

"She's going to be alright you know. She's not going to die from this." Mrs. Everdeen assures us on the fourth day of our vigil. We assure her that we know this but we're lying. We know better-they don't. In our minds we're already planning a funeral for when we get back from the Capitol because we know better. As if one person we know dying this summer wasn't enough…

About a month ago we got the shocking news that Madge Undersee was dead. She had tripped and fallen down the stairs, apparently breaking her neck on the way down. When Mayor Undersee found her he desperately felt for a pulse apparently and found none, meaning there was absolutely nothing Mrs. Everdeen or Prim could have done to help Madge so he didn't fetch for them. Instead someone said, he held his dead little girl in his arms on the floor and sobbed for hours. Katniss and I were equally shocked and pained by this news. How could Madge, an eighteen year old girl who was a youthful and bright person die? I know that this one had nothing to do with Snow either, because what could he possibly have against her? No, this was a horrible, tragic accident of a young engaged girl. Rye was utterly heartbroken, silent for days aside from his crying. After all, wouldn't you be if you were supposed to get married to someone who died less than two weeks beforehand? His mother apparently yelled at him to get a grip and Mr. Mellark took Rye's side in the matter. The Mellarks had a very public fight in the square from that, and eventually Rye decided that the best thing for him to do would be to live with one of his friends for the meantime so he could grieve.

We went to Madge's funeral dressed in black and watched the closed casket lowered into the ground, our friend now gone. I didn't even know that I truly counted Madge as a friend until it was too late. And the worst part was as we stood and watched that casket, we knew that there was most likely going to be another one soon-and this time, it would be someone from our family.

The day we left for the Capitol Posy was still really sick, and Katniss and I had to physically make each other get up and go to our house to change before we left. We knew this may be the last time we ever saw Posy alive, so we were drinking her in as much as we possibly could. But duty calls, and I know if we didn't get on that train it would be more than just Posy's funeral, so we grudgingly go.

To say that we're sad would be an understatement when we get to the Capitol. But it's not just sadness; its anger at Snow and at ourselves, guilt, hurt, and a little annoyed. We smile for the cameras when we get off the train but our hearts aren't in it. Evidently Cinna notices too because he asks what's wrong. We can't tell him all that we know or suspect, but we do tell him that Posy is really sick and that's why we're so down. He understands that it's more than just that from that one statement, as I suspect he knows almost as much as we do about what this really is. Evidently the doctor takes this opportunity of our depression to administer birth control to Katniss. I had been talking to someone I really didn't want to when she pulled me aside into a dark corner.

"The doctor found me. Told me that he had something for my depression because people had noticed." she whispered.

"And?" I questioned in a low voice.

"I said I was grateful that he could help me. When he had the syringe in hand I 'tripped' into him and it fell out of his hand and under a table. I got to the floor before he did and switched it with the one in my bag before coming back up with it." she told me.

"Did he suspect?" I ask. If he did then we're in deep shit.

Katniss gives me a small smile, "Nope. He gave the 'medicine' to me and I thanked him before he walked off with a satisfied smile for helping me."

I kiss her hard and then give her a smile, "Good. Now it's fair game."

"Exactly." She smiled.

"Was it the same color?" I asked, curious to see if Duncan's suspicions were right.

"No, blue this time." Katniss said. Well it looks like we owe Duncan a lot then. I can't be more grateful that he thought of that detail. "Wouldn't want me getting suspicious or anything, would we?"

"It's a little late for that." I smirked, and we went back to mingling with the crowd that we don't know or like. But we smiled a little easier now despite still being worried and horrified about Posy, because we finally have the upper hand on something in this little game Snow's playing with us. If only he knew that Victors stick together-perhaps that will be his downfall one day.

On the train ride home the next day, Katniss and I are kind of sad again, our little happiness from the tricking of the doctor pushed back in our worry and guilt. We're pretty much figuring that Snow made sure somehow that Posy died while we were in the Capitol. Dishing the punishment on the year mark seems like something he would do-it's symbolic and precise at the same time. Which means that even though we weren't able to call our families for an update for the past two days or today, we're pretty sure that a funeral is already being planned.

It turns out we were right on that front, evidence of a teary Prim who came to greet us at the train station. She told us what happened and said that the funeral was at sunset.

So at sunset, Katniss and I grief stricken and dressed in black meet our families at the graveyard, a smaller than normal casket waiting. We're all depressed and crying now. But Katniss and I, we're angry-at Snow and ourselves for being so stupid as to think that we know his game. Evidently we don't.

Prim and Rory are holding each other, my brother fighting to hold back his tears because he thinks that he's a man at fourteen and can't cry. Prim isn't even trying to hold back her tears. She's so sweet and hates death more than anything, she would be crying even if it was a mouse she was burying. But this isn't mouse-it's someone who was basically a sibling to her; family.

Katniss and I are also in eachothers arms as we stand there, trying not to show our guilt or anger through our sadness. I know that Katniss is almost as grief-stricken as me, but we also know why Snow probably killed a family member of mine instead of Prim or Mrs. Everdeen. It was my plan, my idea to get out of the appointments. I did a lot of it and he blames me more than anyone. Which means he's punishing me the most, and first with this matter.

Mrs. Everdeen and my mother are standing together as well, Mrs. Everdeen's arms around my mother's shoulders trying to hold her together. After all, my mother has not only lost a husband but a child. My mother holds a still sick but mending Posy in her arms, and she's got tears rolling down her face and buries her face in my mother's chest as Vick's casket is lowered. It was sudden, his sickness, and he was dead within hours after feeling ill. There was nothing Mrs. Everdeen or Prim could do. Apparently there's nothing any of us can do when it comes to Snow. But I can sure as hell plan my revenge on him, and if I wasn't resolved before, I sure as hell am now. Snow killed my brother; I'm going to kill Snow.


	18. Deception

Katniss's POV

I'm sure from the picturesque view from our bedroom window it's probably chilly outside on this November day, but inside our house it's nice and toasty. Unfortunately toasty is kind of uncomfortable for me as of late. Not only have I been getting hot randomly when I know it's cool outside for the last few weeks, but I've been getting sick in the mornings.

I knew what it meant-I had read my mother's books and I knew the signs from the women coming and going from our door all my life. But I haven't told Gale yet what I suspect. I've still been waiting, wanting to be absolutely sure before saying it. Because saying it means that it's real, and at this point I don't know if I'm relieved or terrified of it being true. Mostly a combination of both I'd say. Relieved that if I am, then we have defied Snow and our families are safe from him on this 'request.' Terrified because I never wanted this, I know exactly what it entails, and we still have no clue how Snow would react. After all, he thinks that I'm on birth control; being pregnant is the last thing he would expect from me, and I'm admittedly scared to find out what the consequences would be. I wouldn't even be pregnant if we hadn't figured out what he was doing, if Duncan hadn't helped me trick the doctor with that syringe. It makes me wonder just who Snow will blame. Which means that I want to know exactly where at least I am in this little game of Snow's before I say anything that could potentially harm us or someone else.

So I've been waiting, waiting for my period. Today I'm officially a week late. I have morning sickness and mood swings. I get random hot flashes. I have to face the fact that I'm pregnant.

I take a deep breath and look in the mirror, finding the courage to life my shirt up a little to expose my stomach. It's still flat and normal, so I must not be that far along. I really couldn't be anyway, that birth control stuff has only been out of my system for about two and a half months. If anything, I'm surprised it happened so fast. My normal flat stomach gives me a little strength, as strange as that seems. It's takes down the shock and horror I have a smidge; I don't know how I would be feeling if I was already showing a little. I'll still probably freak out as I get fatter, but I hope it's a very gradual change so I can deal with it better.

I pull my shirt back down and take deep breaths, counting to ten. I have to tell Gale, I know I do. I just have to find the courage to get myself back in that bedroom and wake him up to tell him. Knowing that stalling isn't going to fix anything, somehow I find the strength to open the bathroom door and walk over to the bed. It's still pretty dark outside, but the sky is a few shades lighter grey then it was when I woke up. I stare at Gale's sleeping face for a minute before I quietly shake him awake. He groans and pulls me to him, effectively making me lose my balance so I awkwardly fall into him from where I was standing by the bed.

"Morning Catnip." he whispers in a rough voice, which is always a little deeper in the morning. He places a light kiss on my lips before I can respond.

"Morning." I say, my voice a little shaky. How am I supposed to tell him? My terror is obviously winning against my relief at the moment. He evidently notices that something's wrong just from that because he sits up and pushes me back a little to look at my face. I try to stay calm and keep my breathing even, but I can't help subconsciously biting my lip which shows my worry. Gale gives me a concerned look that asks the obvious question-what's wrong?

I try to tell him with my eyes, but this evidently isn't something you can say without words. Or at least not now, as I'm not even going to try to point at my stomach. I have a feeling that would be even worse for me then the words that make it true because really I half don't want it to be.

"I'm…I" I stutter as a croak, failing to make myself say it. Come on, just say the stupid word. He waits for me, clearly not knowing still what it is but knowing I have to find the courage on my own.

"Pregnant." I finally whisper, barely audible. Gale's face goes through a quite a few emotions all within the next minute. First confusion and shock, then relief and a bit of happiness. Then comes the worry, but if it's for me or what will evidently happen because of this I don't know. Probably both.

Instead of answering right away he puts his hands on either side of my face and gives my lips a long, lingering kiss. When he pulls away, he gives me a half smile. I can tell he sort of feels the same as me with the strange mix of relief and terror, but in his eyes I can see a sort of happiness that I'd bet he can't see in mine. He hasn't outright said it, but I know that he's always wanted kids so he at least is a little excited about this. At least our kid will have one good parent, as I can't imagine that I will be too good at it.

"We can do this. You can do this." He claims finally, evidently reading that part of my fear is me being a bad parent.

"But Snow…" I whisper, voicing one of my fears. Currently that's the one that worries me most, even above the bad parenting thing. It's not like we can hide this from him anyway, and I worry about if he will find out about our deception with the syringes.

"I know." he murmurs grudgingly, "We'll figure it out. The important part is that our families are safe now-he's not one to go back on his word about that kind of thing."

I nod, knowing that's the biggest relief and instantly feeling a little calmer. After what happened to Vick we're surer than ever that Snow wasn't bluffing, so to keep the rest of our families safe is a huge relief. I'm glad I told Gale now; he can help me with this more than anyone. "Now we have to tell everyone else." I say, not exactly looking forward to it.

"Hey," Gale says soothingly, caressing my cheek, "it's alright, they'll be happy about it. Haymitch might not, but this isn't about Haymitch."

Haymitch. When we told him what happened with Duncan's saline solutions and me switching the birth control with it he was surprisingly not as happy as we thought he would be. He said that it would be better not to get pregnant right away because Snow would get too suspicious. As if we could really control that. He wasn't mad about the switch; he just wanted us to time it right. Well somehow I can't see two and a half months later pleasing him, but it's a little late to change that now. Besides, Gale's right-it's not about Haymitch. He's not part of the punishment plan that Snow has set for us so it doesn't affect him as much as us. I nod and give Gale a small smile before starting to get up to change.

"Hey Katniss?"

"Yeah?" I say, looking back at him.

"I love you." Gale says with a warm smile.

I go back to him and give him a soft kiss, "Love you too." At least we have that; perhaps that will be what gets me through this whole thing. It can only help.

Haymitch's POV

"Happy New Year." I grumble to the television which is on for some reason, showing me the celebration in the Capitol. In 'celebration' I decide to take a long swig of my liquor-that's my way of celebrating. Well, at least this year I'll probably have at least something to be a little happy about.

I shake my head at that. Yeah, if the fucking baker kid can pull this off. I knew the kid didn't like me, obviously blames me for not helping the boy instead of sweetheart. Even after I gave him that damn letter from the not so dead Undersee he looked at me as if it was some kind of sick joke that I was messing with him with or something. But as soon as me and the mayor sat him down in their safe room for an hour or two and explained, he was on board and riding the fuck the Capitol train. Now I just hope this plan works without fucking up.

Just to see if it did, I decide to take a stroll down to the Hob. I don't know when exactly he's going to do this, but I need to be there sooner anyway to know they're all hidden. Coin better fucking give me credit or just leave me the hell alone after this if we pull it off. After all, it's her damn fault that we have to wait for the rebellion. I don't give a shit if she shouldn't be blamed for sickness. Now we have to wait because of her, and sweetheart's preggo.

I was hoping she wouldn't be because if we waited until the Games there would be some semblance of a plan, but you can bet your ass Snow knows she is now so that ruins it. Besides the fact that it happened way too fast-saline my ass. I'd bet my last coin that Duncan gave her fertility shit instead to help her out. Since she is though we have a whole different ball game to work with, but it would have been better if there wasn't a kid involved. Dealing with those two was going to be hard enough as it was; now you throw a kid in the mix that's a mixture of them and hell knows what we've got to work with.

I stumble along the streets of the square with my bottle in hand, acting drunker than I am for any onlookers. It's a game I've played for years, making everyone believe that I'm worth nothing so it keeps me safe from suspicion. After all, who the fuck would guess that the town drunk was the leader of this fucking rebellion in 12? Keeps us all safer from them.

I come to the random house that is hiding the almost 'dead.' When I walk in and knock on the false floor board four times it opens for me. I go down and close it on my way, finding myself looking at a group of about a dozen kids, all around the age of 18 or 19. Some of them look a little confused, but others just look at me like I'm well…the town drunk that has no fucking idea what he's talking about. Undersee's boy comes up to me and gives me an expectant look.

"Good work kid. When's it blowing?" I say, assessing the group he's assembled that will be going to 13. It looks like a few girls and mostly guys, the girls probably being either girlfriends or wives of some. But despite most of them being Seam, they all look somewhat healthy and determined to see if I'm not just spitting lies about being rebels. They'll find out soon enough; I don't envy them for going to 13, but to them at least they'll get decent food and work; something that most or all of them don't have here.

"Around one. We figured it would be best to do when the least amount of people were out." he replies.

"Who got the explosives?" I question. This will be the biggest question, the one that matters most.

"I did." a Seam boy says, "Stole them this morning from the supply room."

I look the boy up and down, trying to see if he would be a good fit, "Would people think that you got them for that purpose?"

The boy beside him snorts, "Toby? Yeah, he's a show off alright. Anyone would believe he would bring explosives for entertainment." The kid named Toby shoves him, but doesn't disagree with the statement. Good, that'll work.

"Alright then. Did ya do what I told ya?" I turn to the group.

Some nod and Undersee's boy speaks, "Yeah. Got a pig for flesh to be found and some of us left some items there in case they don't get blown to bits. Evidence you know."

Good. I nod and grunt in approval. I didn't tell him about the evidence; guess this kid is smarter than I gave him credit for. Not that I really think anything will be left to find after it blows, but just in case it's a good idea. "Alright then. Hovercraft will come in a few days once we're sure everyone believes your dead. I'll come back sometime tomorrow to tell ya what's up."

"How do we know that this isn't a joke?" a girl asks.

"How would you like proof on that hovercraft?" I question her smartly, "The not so dead Madge Undersee will be on that hovercraft, and then you can tell me if this is a joke."

With that I leave them and go walk around to wait for the show. Hidden of course, wouldn't want anyone to get suspicious. I go to stand in an ally a few houses left of the one where the action will take place and wait for one of the boys to pull the trigger, sipping from my bottle the whole time. Around one o'clock just like the boy said, the show begins.

It's sudden, but it's definitely a sight to see. The sound is incredible, and all I can hear in my ears is a ringing even being at least 100 yards away. But the real sight to see is the explosion of the Seam house.

It's one of the couple's down in the safe cellar, one that they were assigned when they got hitched. It's also the one that Undersee's boy's been staying at since that blow up of his parents after Undersee 'died.' The plan was for all of them to tell parents, siblings, or friends that they were going to a little party at that house. One of the boys, Toby I guess, stole explosives from his work at the mines and brought them to the party to blow up shit for entertainment. The plan is for everyone to believe that they were all drunk as hell and blew up all the explosives at once from stupidity in their drunkenness, therefore blowing the whole house along with them, effectively killing a dozen people at one time. Meaning that I could get a dozen people to 13 who would not be missed, and no one would be suspicious of their absence. In a way, being 'dead' is really the only escape you could successfully do to 13. Especially with a multitude of people we needed a good plan, and stupidity was one thing that's plausible for that without actually killing them.

I watch the fireworks from my place, almost in awe of the burning wood and chars of what was once a home flying everywhere, the blaze in full force and crackling loudly after the explosion. At this point people are waking up from the sudden blast and coming out of their homes, and the panic ensuing from this fire is evident. But no one seems to know exactly what happened or who was in there. In fact, it's not until about five minutes later when one of the people who knew about the 'party' cries out for whoever she knew in there, and tells the others through her sobs about the party. Good, very good.

Knowing that this rumor will spread and people will know by tomorrow morning who was in that house and what probably happened, I slip out from my place in the ally and stumble back to my house, no one paying attention to the town drunk through all this chaos. I try not to smirk, something I accomplish by quenching my thirst with the bottle in hand to give my mouth something to do til I'm on the street towards Victor's Village.

In the morning I go to the Hob, knowing that that's where I'll 'find out' what happened last night. I go up to the stand where I buy my booze and I see Cray, shaking his head as he downs the drink he first bought.

"Yah hear?" he says to me after he's downed at least a fifth of the bottle in one sip.

"What?" I ask. I damn well know what but I need to hear what he thinks it is.

"Some stupid kids had a party last night, about ten of them. One of them apparently stole explosives from the mine yesterday. Guess they were all drunk as shit because they blew up the damn house with them along with it." Cray tells me, shaking his head as he grunts. This is bad for him; he's going to have to report it to the Capitol. And this means that not only he could get in trouble because the kids shouldn't have alcohol at all because it's made illegally, but the fact that the kid got away with stealing the explosives means others are in deep shit. I can't seem to find it in me to care at the moment though, not that I would think I would at all. As long as this works I'll be alright.

"Find anyone?" I ask uncaringly. After all, who would think that the town drunk would care?

"Nope. Not a single one, though we did find something that looked like burnt flesh." Cray informs. Ah the pig; can't believe some of that lived through that fire. I wonder if it smelled like bacon or if it was too charred to smell like it?

"Well, good luck with that." I say before leaving the counter.

Two days later in the dead of night I lead the dozen or so 'dead' kids into the woods, where the hovercraft comes not ten minutes later. When the door opens I see a blonde head, and Undersee's boy almost looks like he's about to cry as he runs for her and picks her up before smacking a huge kiss on her. The others look at me in awe, as if they really didn't believe me until just now before boarding. Good-deception can be your best friend.


	19. Protect

Katniss's POV

"What's it matter? I'm going to look ridiculous in a dress with this." I sigh to Cinna, pointing to my protruding belly. He's dressing me for the interview Gale and I are doing in about an hour, because apparently being pregnant means being entertainment still. As if fulfilling Snow's request wasn't enough, now we have to make a huge deal out of it. We had to come to the Capitol for not so much an interview as an unveiling…of the sex of the baby. I didn't even know that you could find that out before the baby came, and now I'm going to know firsthand.

"Katniss, are you doubting my designing skills?" Cinna questions, eyebrows raised in amusement. I shake my head-guess he sort of has a point. If anyone could make a five months pregnant girl look good, it's him. "Good, you're going to look amazing as usual."

I decide to not complain anymore, because really there's no point. I have to be on that stupid stage soon and I would prefer to be dressed by then so I shut my mouth and my eyes when he tells me to do so as he slips on my dress. I took a test of the Capitol's earlier so they knew the sex, a small strip of paper that they laid on my tongue to find out. My dress is supposed to be the 'teller' of what the sex of the baby is; blue for a boy or pink for a girl. I still don't want a kid really, but if I had to choose I would want a boy. One that looks exactly like Gale and has nothing from me because I think they would look better that way.

Cinna tells me to open and I'm surprised to see that my dress is not blue or pink, but a crisp white instead. I look at him in confusion.

He chuckles once, "When Ceaser asks you to unveil you pull that ribbon right there and it will change the color of your dress to the right color."

"So you know what color it is and I'm not allowed to know before then?"

"Exactly. Don't worry hun; you'll find out soon enough." Cinna smiles, giving away nothing. I roll my eyes at him. Not that I care too much, but it's a little annoying that he knows what's in my belly and I don't.

When Gale and I are called on stage by Ceaser, we are greeted by a cheering crowd, all dressed in blue or pink. I don't know if that's what they bet on or if that's what they want for it to be. This is ridiculous-it's one baby for crying out loud. They're betting on the sex of my baby with most likely lots of money and people die every day in the districts from lack of food. Babies die too-why is mine so different? Oh right; because Gale and I are Victors and we have to be their stupid entertainment.

Ceaser starts off with how we are, how excited we and our families are about the baby, and what we think it is/want it to be. I act like I'm over the moon to be a mother soon, and I think I do a pretty good job of it. I'm scared silly still, but once I started showing I started a habit of constantly putting my hands on my stomach, subconsciously protecting my child from this evil Capitol and their devil of a President. Speaking of Snow, we still haven't heard one word from him and that almost scares me more than if we had. It makes me feel like he's planning something, and it can't be good. Did he find out about the syringe switch? I mean I was under a table and I doubt there were cameras under there, but was I too suspicious?

Once the crowd starts getting antsy and wanting the unveiling now, Ceaser finally gives into them and asks me to do so. I stand up and give Gale one side of the ribbon and take the other in my hand, and the crowd counts to three. We pull at the same time and my dress curiously looks like it's bleeding with color. Eventually the dress is a solid color, no longer white. The crowd dressed in pink cheers loudly, evidently happy about winning their bets or whatever.

A girl. I'm having a girl. I hope she doesn't look like me too much. I look at Gale and try to picture him as a girl, hoping she looks more like him than me. But somehow I just can't picture it right now because the sheer thought of Gale looking like a girl is so ridiculous that I let out a small laugh. Hey, maybe she'll look like Posy-she's pretty, and it's a much better example than Gale for what our daughter could look like.

Once the cheering dies down Ceaser congratulates us and asks us how we feel. Gale is actually a little smug, saying that he wanted a girl the whole time and that he thought that it was. We finish the interview and go off stage hand in hand. But before we get too far, two peacekeepers stop us.

"Katniss Hawthorne?" one of them says.

"Yes?" I reply, trying not to show my unease.

"Come with me. The President would like to see you." He states authoritatively. Well, I sort of figured this was coming. Gale and I start stepping forward but the peacekeeper stops us.

"Alone." He states, staring down Gale. Alone? Snow wants to have a meeting with me alone? This can't be good at all. I gulp subconsciously and Gale and I share a look that says a thousand things. But eventually he squeezes my hand once for support and unwillingly lets go. I walk by myself with the peacekeepers and look back to see Gale fighting with every instinct he has not to come and rescue me, fight off the peacekeepers. I kind of wish he would, but I know that it would end badly so I turn the corner as quickly as possible, my hands going to protect my stomach consciously this time. He wouldn't do anything to harm her now, would he? It unnerves me that I can't be positive the answer to that is no.

The peacekeepers lead me to a floor that I've never been on and open the door for me, gesturing for me to go in. I steel myself and walk in with my head high and my hands still on my stomach, indicating that I'm not afraid even if I am. Snow looks up from his desk chair (how many offices does he have anyway?) and tells me to sit. I do, eyeing him warily the whole time through my cool mask. He stares at me as well, and we embrace the heavy silence between us before he finally breaks it.

"So, congratulations are in order apparently." He states.

"Thank you." I say, completely on my guard. I can tell that he has a mask on too, but his eyes can't hide the anger he evidently feels.

"A congratulations that should not have been so soon." Snow says, staring right at me.

"Well, we got lucky this year." I say. Really, really lucky that Johanna pointed it out and Duncan deals with medicine as a hobby.

"Oh my dear, I thought we agreed not to lie to each other. You knew about the birth control, did you not?" he questions, and the way he stares at me I know he's trying to make me feel weak. It's working a little, but not too much. As long as he doesn't know the whole truth about the syringe switch, then Gale and I and a lot of others will be safer. But he's right; we agreed not to lie. And since I did know about the birth control I nod. He looks at me like he's trying to figure out how I know, and I can tell despite himself that he's a little impressed with me. The silence is so great that I have to say something, so I blurt out what's been on my mind for a while.

"How many family members were you planning to kill before giving us a fair shot?" I question the thing that's been burning me. I have to know somehow. How many other than Vick was he going to take from us? Posy for real this time? Prim? My mother?

"Two or three." He answers honestly. Two or three? He wanted to take out half of our loved ones before even giving us a chance? He's a horrible snake of a man. "Now to the real reason you're here." he says once he's assessed my surprise.

"To punish me more?" I say before I can stop myself.

"Precisely, but not in the way you may think." Snow replies, "You may have saved your families, but I assure you that you have not saved your daughter." I knew it. What's he going to do to her? And right after the reveal in the Capitol on television? I mean I know he's mad but this will cause an outrage. No wonder he didn't want Gale here-I have no one to protect my daughter but myself. My hands instinctively go to my stomach and I wish my hands were bigger as if I could hide her from this sick man.

"Oh no not now." He assures me. It helps relax me a little but not much, and I still eye him warily. "But one day…"

It's what I expected all along then. He's going to put her in the Hunger Games, and probably give the Gamemakers direct orders to make sure she dies. It's great entertainment too-the daughter of not one but two Victors in the Game that changed their lives forever. Hopefully we can save her with all our knowledge and skills that helped us win and she can somehow escape them.

"Do you understand?" Snow questions me, and I nod slowly, trying not to show my fear. After all, having that fear is one thing; Snow basically confirming that it will come to be is quite another. "Very well. On to the next part then."

"Next part?" I ask. As if telling me my child is going into the Games just because I got pregnant before he wanted me to wasn't bad enough.

"Yes. Since you are having a child before I planned, there are consequences to this." Snow begins, "Therefore, you will only have one child ever. If you happen to get pregnant again, I won't hesitate to make sure that you still only have one child."

My mouth drops open in shock. He wants me to lose my child-my only child. And if I somehow get pregnant again…I don't even want to think about what he would do to make certain that his demand is met.

"Once your daughter is born birth control will be available to you once a year if you so choose to take it." Snow assures me. A small mercy, but one I'll have to take. I'm never going to make it an option for him to kill one of my children because of that, whether I want them or not. " Now you may leave. I will be waiting eagerly to meet the newest Hawthorne."

I try not to look disgusted as I stand up, and just barely contain the full on sprint I desire to do out that door and force myself to walk at an even pace. But once I'm out, I find Gale pacing and collapse into his arms while I let the tears spill, and we walk down the hall before I tell him everything in blubbering whispers.

Gale's POV

As I finish my snare line, I find a patch of katniss flowers in a little pond and pick them up. I know it annoys Katniss to no end that she had to stop hunting last week because she can't fit under the fence now with her being seven months along, so maybe this will cheer her up a bit on her birthday. I've been hunting by myself half the day since, and to be honest I miss her. It's really strange to not have someone protecting my back, so I've mostly been sticking to the snare line. Actually, I shouldn't be complaining; I'm lucky to be able to get past the fence at all these days.

Once we came back in March from the Capitol and Katniss's meeting with Snow, the crackdown in District 12 was quite evident. While it's fair to say that it's not entirely our fault, I'm sure we're to blame for at least part of it.

The real teller that District 12 was getting a lot stricter was when Cray, the Head peacekeeper mysteriously disappeared one morning and hasn't been seen or heard from since. In his place is a no nonsense, have no mercy man named Romulus Thread. With the amount of new peacekeepers coming in, he quickly built whipping posts, gallows, and new jails to carry out punishment. And punishments happened a lot as of late, as people in 12 had forgotten some things were illegal since it hadn't been enforced in so long, and many people now had scars (emotional and physical) on them to prove their punishment. Mrs. Everdeen and Prim are very busy all the time now, and it exhausted them every day. And not only are people coming in and out for them constantly from the new punishments, the mines have gotten a lot stricter as well. People have to work twelve hour shifts now for less pay, and it's far more dangerous work, leading to more injuries and starvation in the District.

Other evidence of this crackdown was the burning down of the Hob, its remains still burning long after the building came down because of all the coal dust. That was really sad for me actually, because I truly loved that place. Our black market was important to a lot of people here and now even they are scared to sell and hungry. Of course the Hob burning down could be accounted to the explosion that happened on New Year's, the one that some dumb kid stole explosives and took them to a party, killing not only himself but ten others including Rye Mellark from their stupidity. Since it was assumed that they had to have been drunk to have been that stupid and they bought the alcohol at the Hob, obviously someone found out about the illegal alcohol and that was that. The lack of alcohol effects Haymitch the most and he's been syphoning it from incoming trains ever since, but it still runs low sometimes and that can be a scary thing to see. I honestly can say now that I prefer him drunk to sober.

But the biggest effect was that there was electricity on the fence 24/7 now, something I know was a direct punishment to Katniss and I and no one else. After all, it's really no secret that we hunt illegally after our Games, and not many others venture into there. We went stir crazy for about two weeks, and hitting ourselves for having to watch people we knew starve because we couldn't hunt and the Hob was burned to the ground. Fortunately the mayor of all people came to our aid and turned off a portion of the fence every morning and afternoon so that we could hunt for people (and get him the strawberries he loves I'd guess). I've never been more thankful for him.

When I find Katniss I'm not surprised to see that she's in the meadow waiting for me. I am, however, surprised to see her frustrated and crumpling a piece of paper in her hands as she scowls. She throws it as I come up to her.

"What's wrong?" I question.

"Birthday present from the Capitol." she mutters, clearly angry.

I freeze. "Another request?" I ask. What more could he possibly want from us?

She shakes her head. "No, a list of appropriate names. And they're all ridiculous."

"Really? Like what?" I ask.

"How about Balbina? Or Petronia?" she exclaims. Fuck, those are horrible. There's no way in hell that my daughter will be named either of those.

"So don't pick one." I declare boldly.

"What? Who knows what would happen if we didn't." she replies annoyed and frustrated, burying her face in her hands where she stands. I come up behind her and place my arms around her waist, my hands resting on her stomach as my chin goes to her shoulder.

"Hey, it'll be alright." I say soothingly.

"You think?" she questions hopefully but still bitterly, placing her hands over mine.

"Yeah. They're already going to put her in the Games-why shouldn't we at least get to pick her name?" I murmur grudgingly. That argument may not fly with the Capitol, but it sure as hell works for me.

"I guess you have a point." Katniss sighs, and I plant a kiss on her cheek.

"Still have that book?" I ask, and she nods. They sent a book of names home with us a few months ago to choose a name-and there have to be thousands in there, all with meanings and shit. Of course that was before they apparently sent us ones we should choose from…well fuck them. We'll pick our own daughter's name, and we'll make it good.

We go home and browse through the book for hours, desperate to find a good name that we like and shows how we feel but at the same time we can play off to the Capitol as not being defiant of their choices. It takes a few days, but we finally find one that could work. One that the Capitol will take as one thing, but everyone else will take as our rebellious side showing. They won't stand a chance against us.


	20. Deal

Gale's POV

We're on our way to the Capitol once again with tributes for the 77th Hunger Games-a sixteen year old girl from the Seam and a seventeen year old boy from town, the tailor's son. This year, however, is a little different when it comes to mentoring. Since Katniss is due soon and we're 'requested' to stay in the Capitol until our daughter is born (she's due in about a month), Katniss and I are mentoring one tribute together and Haymitch the other. We don't think that the Games will last a month and who knows if one of our tributes will, but who knows? If that happens it will be better if she's not mentoring…alone anyway. Haymitch is none too pleased that he has to mentor again as he's quite enjoyed the last two years off, but he gets the point and grudgingly agreed.

At dinner we assess the two tributes, the girl Violet and the tailor's boy Frasier. Violet looks like she's already given up, but Frasier appears to have accepted that he's there but doesn't want to go down without a fight. With a few looks and gestures shared with Katniss we choose Frasier right then and there at the dinner table. It sounds horrible, but we would rather take the better tribute over Haymitch because really, Haymitch isn't going to be much of a help anyway. At least we'll try and help Frasier and he's willing to try too.

Frasier was quite pleased to have us as his mentors, and all week eagerly listens to what we have to say and tries hard. He ends up with a training score of 7, which isn't what he was hoping for but it's decent. In the interviews Violet is unmemorable with her shyness and her score of 4, but Frasier is actually pretty funny and does a good job. And it certainly helps that he's not bad looking either, as that gets him a few sponsors on his own that Katniss and I didn't get him.

On the first day of the Games Katniss, Haymitch, and I get to the Mentor Room an hour earlier than the Games to see what the arena is this year. It looks like a marsh of some kind, with tall grasses and bogs everywhere. I wish we taught Frasier how to swim but I guess it's too late for that now. Something to keep in mind with future tributes. We explore the arena for anywhere that the tributes could hide or take advantage of, but it seems that the whole arena is pretty much the same marsh aside from the grass flat where the golden Cornucopia is, supplies and weapons laid out in front of it.

When the gong sounds both of our tributes run for the Cornucopia. We told Frasier that he could risk it if he felt that he could, but I don't know what Haymitch told Violet. Apparently he doesn't seem to care too much though-he knew Violet pretty much gave up before she got there and that made his job easier. So it doesn't come as too big of a surprise when she runs straight for one of the Careers, the dark haired District 2 girl, and basically wills her to crush her chest with a mace. She falls to the ground writhing in pain, but we know that's she's good as dead. It's still sad and I'm sure she'll still haunt my nightmares, but I didn't get too close to her and I didn't really know her at all so it makes it a slightly easier to deal with.

Frasier runs in about ten yards to grab a backpack and then sprint in the direction of the marsh to his left, fleeing the Cornucopia. He keeps his eyes to the ground as he runs, watching out for bogs and surprise water holes that he could easily fall into. Katniss and I breathe a little easier once he's at least a mile away from the bloodbath, assuring us that he will at least live through that.

Once he's about three miles from the bloodbath, Frasier slows his pace and watches his step more carefully now, as the bogs and waterholes are harder to see through those taller grasses. Early afternoon the cannons start firing, indicating that the bloodbath is over. We hear nine cannons, average but on the low side for a bloodbath. That surprises me with this year's batch of Careers, but perhaps more tributes escaped the bloodbath because they could hide in the tall grasses. It will certainly make the annual Career hunt tougher, as the six Careers might have to walk in a straight line if they're going to avoid the water traps in some places.

The Careers set up camp on the solid grass next to the Cornucopia, and Frasier sits down once the sun starts setting and weaves some of the grass over him as a sort of camouflage. I wonder if he learned how to weave since he's a tailor's son. I certainly didn't know he could do that because he told us that he didn't spend much time on camouflage during training, mostly weapons. Either way it should do a good job of hiding him from the Careers tonight unless one of them accidently steps on him or something.

Frasier watches the dead tributes from his hideout and I look at the center screen to see who died today. Both from 3, the girl from 5, the boy from 6, the girl from 7, both from 8, the girl from 11, and Violet. The Careers begin their hunt with five of them leaving and one guarding the supplies, as it would be easy for someone to steal supplies from them and then disappear into the marshes. Frasier makes sure that he is safe and secure in his camouflage before closing his eyes and trying to get some rest. I tell Katniss who's looking a little sleepy to go to bed and I'll wake her up when I'm tired. Haymitch wheels his chair over about five feet to talk/drink with Chaff, who still has a tribute unlike Haymitch and I watch the Careers try and fail to find a tribute all night. Maybe these Games will still be going when the baby is born after all. Looks like it might from the way it's going so far. When Frasier wakes up at dawn I wake Katniss and go to sleep myself, exhausted from being up almost 24 hours.

Katniss's POV

The Games have been going on for a week and a half now and there are still eight tributes alive, including Frasier. There are five Careers, Frasier, the boy from 9 and the girl from 10. Luckily Frasier has been doing a great job with camouflage, but he has had a few almost mishaps since the Games began.

The first near miss was the third night in the arena when the Careers were within fifteen feet of where he was lying under his weaved grasses. I was terrified with him as he watched them warily through a hole in his weaved grasses, clutching the pocket knife in his hand (the only weapon he had that was in his backpack). But luckily the Careers walked right past him, his camouflage saving him. The next time about four days ago was when he tripped into a waterhole and a fish-like mutt almost bit off his foot (I was asleep for that one but Gale told me about it). Gale sent him some medicine and a bandage for the bite on his ankle with sponsor money and that near tragedy was luckily avoided. The third was yesterday when he had a run in with the smallish fifteen year old boy from seven. With only a pocket knife he fought the boy that had a much larger knife (one he successfully stole from the Cornucopia while the Career guard's back was turned) and eventually beat him. He took the knife for himself and I felt a little better knowing that he had a better weapon though it sounds horrible. After all, the boy was his first kill and I know that the first is the hardest. But he seems to be dealing with it alright for now. Johanna wasn't even too mad that our tribute killed her's, as she has been at our station ever since. Though I really don't think she ever has much faith in her tributes…or she just doesn't try to care because it makes their deaths easier to deal with.

Having a tribute in the final eight for the first time as a mentor has made me feel so much better. I was beginning to think that I was a horrible mentor, and it frustrated me that I did something wrong. Sure you could put it down to not having promising tributes and Frasier actually has a fighting chance this year so we got lucky, but it doesn't make my failed mentoring years any better. Having all of Gale and my tributes die within the first 24 hours both of my years mentoring before this year has worn me down, so it looks like I don't have the best track record no matter who I'm dealing with as tributes.

After watching Frasier weave his grasses for the night and watch the death toll of only the girl from 10 who died from drowning in one of the bogs that she fell into, Gale and I go to sleep and Haymitch takes over with the aid of Johanna, as they are helping us now. It would probably be better if at least Gale or I were up at all times, but then we wouldn't really get to see each other at all. Besides, I trust that Haymitch and Johanna would wake us up if anything looked suspicious or was going wrong, so it's the best arrangement for us anyway. Besides, Frasier won't know the difference and I bet even if he did know he wouldn't blame us.

When I wake up around dawn about five days later, I get up slowly before going over to my chair at the station, rubbing my sleepy eyes. I need to get back to our station because there are only three tributes left-Frasier, Finnick's tribute, and the girl from 2. But when I stand up I feel a sharp pain in my stomach and back and let out an agonized sound unconsciously, falling back on the bed and holding my cramping stomach. It goes away for a minute but the cramping comes back again, and I let out another pained sound. Then I feel something wet that I feel like I'm sitting on and look down to find that my pants are wet…

"Oh god." I say out loud, and Johanna and Haymitch look back at me as I hold my stomach again with a grimace on my face.

They take me in before Johanna's eyes go wide and says, "You're in labor?" she asks. What? I can't be in labor! It's too early; I'm not due for another two weeks! But the pain coming from my abdomen and the water I'm sitting on indicates that I am. Another contraction comes and I gasp in pain.

Johanna and Haymitch race over to the beds and Johanna shakes Gale until he wakes up and tells him quickly what's going on. He instantly is alert and at my side, trying to help me up. By this time between the commotion and my pained gasps we have more attention from the mentors than the Games do, and several mentors come over and offer their help.

Gale helps me up and puts his arm around my waist to help me walk while I have a death grip on his hand with one of mine and the other on my stomach though it doesn't seem to help my pain any. By the time we get to the door I'm grateful for the doctors that are racing to the Mentor Room with a wheelchair, glad that someone in the Mentor Room apparently called them and they came quickly. I try to hold myself together as my pain increases with intensity and time it seems every minute until we get to the hospital part of the Training Center.

She's gorgeous. After four hours of labor she was finally born, perfectly healthy and beautiful. I never wanted to be a mother, but just looking at my daughter's tiny perfect face makes some kind of motherly feeling wash over me. Love-love for her, the feeling that I would do anything at all to protect her. Sure it's going to be a lot harder with knowing that Snow is going to put her in the Games, but we have at least twelve years to teach her everything we know if not more. We can protect her in our own way from them.

Gale is currently sitting at my side with his arm around my shoulders on the hospital bed with our daughter in my arms, and gives her tiny forehead a kiss before giving my lips a gentle kiss. With her olive baby soft skin, her head of silky black hair and two tiny silver pools for eyes, she actually looks like an almost perfect mix of the two of us. She has my nose but Gale's chin. My short legs but Gale's long nimble fingers. While I didn't want her to have anything from me before, I can't help but admit that with the mix of Gale's features it makes her look even prettier.

Haymitch comes in and takes in our little family sitting on the hospital bed before speaking. "So are you sure about the name?" he asks. We had told him about the list that the Capitol sent and the name we picked and why. It's not that he didn't approve (he actually seemed pleased with the name) but he knows that we're already in so much trouble with Snow that we should tread carefully. But Gale was right before-we already know that she's going to be reaped, so really picking her name is kind of a trivial deal. And if we play it right we can probably get away with it.

Gale and I nod in unison. We had already agreed that we weren't backing down from it, and we can't be even the slightest bit unsure if we were going to pull this off. Haymitch gives us a laugh, "Well alright then." He walks over to the bed and peers down at her in my arms, studying her. "Squirt's pretty cute."

"Squirt?" I repeat with a frown, "You are not calling her squirt!" I protest.

Haymitch guffaws, "Try and stop me sweetheart." I roll my eyes, but I know it's useless with Haymitch. He rarely calls anyone by their real name anyway so I don't know why I even bothered thinking that she would be different.

"Shouldn't you be down in the Mentor Room?" Gale asks after a minute, which brings me back to reality. He's right; Haymitch shouldn't have left Frasier unattended. I mean I know he's not that great of a mentor but come on.

Haymitch gives us a look before frowning. "Nope. The Games are over."

"Who won?" I ask hesitantly. I know it's not Frasier by the way Haymitch is acting, and that makes me feel guilty. Frasier died and his mentors weren't there. Not that we didn't have an extremely valid excuse, but still.

"The District 2 girl. Killed both boys within an hour of each other." Haymitch replies grudgingly. I sigh feeling guilty, but I need to focus; the Games are over and I can't help Frasier anymore. I need to focus on my daughter now.

The next day Gale and I are onstage with Ceaser with our daughter in my arms, her in a tiny pink dress that Cinna designed. The audience oohs and aahs, delighted with the perfect little girl that they have been obsessed with seeing apparently. I'm sure the Capitol has bet on what name we've chosen for her too, but unlike the unveiling of if I was having a boy or girl I'm guessing that they are all going to be wrong. After all, we didn't choose from their stupid list.

"So Katniss, Gale, I think it's time for you to end our suspense-it's killing us." Ceaser says, pressing a hand to his heart with a fake pained face while the audience yells in agreement. "Please, tell us what name you've chosen for your darling baby girl."

Gale and I look at each other with a smile, and I let him speak. He can explain it better than I can anyway.

"I'm sure no one here has guessed the name we've chosen, as we wanted our daughter to have a name that meant something to us-meant something to you all." Gale begins, and only his arm around my shoulder would tell me that he's nervous from it being tense and stiff; to the cameras he looks relaxed and all smiles. "As you all know, Katniss is known as the Girl on Fire." Cheers from the audience but they hush each other quickly, enamored with what Gale is saying. "So the name we have chosen has something to do with that. It means born of fire." I try not to suck in a breath at that, but the audience looks pleased at the explanation. The play on the Girl on Fire was my idea, as the name does mean born of fire but it also means something else. It means that she's a rebel; she will not take anything that is wrong. That you can play with her fire but you are going to get burned. Something that the Districts might understand (especially when she's unfortunately in the Games) because they know Gale and I as two rebels sort of from our Games, but the Capitolites will undoubtedly take at face value.

Gale strokes our daughter's little cheek with a soft smile on his face before turning back to the cameras. "So Panem, I would like you to meet our daughter…Makenna Hawthorne."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering, Makenna really does mean born of fire (yes, I do my research; judge me). In fact, it was what inspired the title and theme of this sequel because I chose this name long before the sequel began :)


	21. Helpful

Gale's POV

"Ready to go?" I call upstairs. We have to get to the Justice Building soon for the Victory Tour. Enobaria's tribute won the Games this year that we didn't see because Katniss was in labor, and we have to go meet her tribute before her speech. We eventually did see what happened that day in the recap. Frasier came in third, the girl's eye catching him hiding in the tall grasses. He put up a good fight, but from the sheer strength of a Career she finally tore his stomach up with her mace and pushed him into a bog. His cannon went off a few minutes later. District 12 was distraught when we came home, knowing that we were so close to winning and failing the last day. We're lucky that the tailor's wife is a forgiving woman-she came to greet us when we got off the train with tears in her eyes, but thanked us for doing all we could for her son. Even congratulated us on being new parents. Her forgiveness didn't make me feel less guilty, but it's nice to know that maybe all of our dead tributes' families don't despise us.

Coming home after the Games with Makenna was probably the best thing that could have happened, even with no Victor. Our families were ecstatic to meet her, and Makenna was gently passed from person to person and oohed and aahed over. When my mother held her for the first time I saw her crack the first real smile I've seen on her since Vick died. It doesn't make Vick's death (or my hatred for Snow and my own guilt) any better, but it helps. Having a baby can only help heal everyone's sad hearts.

"Coming!" Katniss answers, our sleeping five month old in her arms as she goes down the stairs. Once in the hallway she zips up Makenna's tiny jacket and hands her to me so she can put on her own before we leave.

We walk to the Justice Building hand in hand, me with a newly woken Makenna on my hip. We walk there quickly to get out of the chill and we're grateful for the warmth of the room where we wait with Haymitch for the newest Victor to arrive with the Wicked Bitch in tow.

When they come, it's safe to say that the two of them are hostile. The new Victor, I think her name's Minerva, stiffly holds out her hand to shake to the three of us and eyes Makenna with a look of annoyance. Instead of talking to us, she ignores us and goes back to Enobaria where they spend the rest of the time until the speech whispering to each other and occasionally glancing our way with distaste. Oh you have got to be fucking kid me. I mean I know Enobaria doesn't like us, but this is just ridiculous. Not like I really wanted to talk to her anyway, but still. Katniss and I glance at each other in confusion and fail to guess what that's about other than Enobaria doesn't like us and obviously poisoned the mind of her Victor against us. I look to Haymitch to see if he has a clue and he gives me an amused smirk in return but doesn't say anything.

Once Enobaria and Minerva leave, however, he easily lets out a string of guffaws.

"What was that?" Katniss questions him.

"She's pissed cause Squirt here overshadowed her Victory in the Capitol. Guess they still aren't over that." Haymitch informs us with a laugh.

Oh well…that's kind of funny actually. Katniss and I didn't even realize that we might be 'stealing her glory' or whatever because Frasier didn't win, Enobaria's tribute did. Guess Makenna was more exciting than the newest Victor. And Makenna did basically choose her own birthday because she came two weeks early-it just happened to be the last day of the Games this year. I bet Snow was kind of pissed at that too, but hey, it's sort of his fault. If he didn't want us to be entertainment in the first place we wouldn't have overshadowed his stupid Hunger Games.

When it comes to the dinner and ball, the Wicked Bitch and her minion still ignore us when they aren't looking at us with disgust, so we ignore them completely in return. Instead, we talk to the mayor and his wife through dinner. They are still sad over Madge's death, but with heavy hearts they seem to be getting along alright. The mayor assures us that when we want to teach our daughter our 'skills' (it's not like he can outright say what they are here even if most people know) he'll be sure to do what he can. It makes me glad that he likes us because that can only help-I think we have Madge to thank for that. When we have to start teaching (in no way am I going to say training) Makenna what we know, we will need that fence to be off for longer. The crackdown is still in full effect in 12, so having the mayor on our side is a blessing. Perhaps he even wants to help because he loved to help Madge with things. He can't possibly know what we know about her guaranteed reaping, could he? I don't think Haymitch talks to him too much so probably not.

Katniss's POV

We're on stage once again for the reaping, my eyes never leaving Prim in the sixteen year old section as the mayor does his speech before Effie sentences two children to the Hunger Games. Wow, my little duck is sixteen-the same age that I was when I went into the Games. It makes me feel old. Well, I guess so much has changed since then that it comes as no surprise. I'm married, have an almost one year old, and I'm twenty years old; the first two being things I would have laughed at you when I went into the Hunger Games if you told me that would be me in four years. If only I had known…

My mind is so occupied with thoughts of all the changes I've gone through that I miss the names completely. Luckily Prim is still in the sixteen year old section and when I glance at the stage I see that the boy is far too short to be Rory so I know that they are both safe for another year. One less worry on our chests as bad as that sounds. There are still two tributes we have to mentor, at least one of them sure to be dead all too soon and another face or two to haunt my nightmares.

Once the Mayor's final speech is complete and the tributes shake hands, Gale and I walk over to where our families are in the crowd to say goodbye. We hug and kiss all of them and once Prim and Rory find their way to us through the crowd we do the same to them. We take Makenna from my mother's arms and wave last goodbyes before walking to the car that will take us to the train.

Normally Makenna wouldn't be allowed to come to the Capitol, as Victor children are required to stay home while the Victor's are mentoring or just 'visiting.' Since our job is entertainment for the Capitol, however, apparently that means that Makenna is as well. We were 'requested' by Snow to come to a first birthday party at his mansion and bring the guest of honor, so this means that we will have her with us throughout the Games.

Really, I think this is just an excuse to abuse us for him to get money from the Capitolites, but this is one request I don't mind as much. I wouldn't have wanted to leave her for that long anyway so the exception is alright with me. What worries me is that if Snow continues these birthday parties through the years then Makenna will have to experience the Games from the Mentor Room every year. I know it stupid because the Games are required to watch for everyone, but when she's a little older she'll remember the tributes, see all their deaths from multiple screens and start asking questions. I'm worried how this will affect her. Luckily she's too young to remember this year and she wouldn't know what's going on anyway so for this year it will be better.

Our tributes are surprisingly young this year, what with tesserae participants skyrocketing from the crackdown and the older reaped children having far more slips. We have a fourteen year old girl and a thirteen year old boy, both Seam. The girl, Esme, tells us at dinner that first night on the train that she has five younger siblings and two parents to feed from tesserae, so I guess that sort of explains why she might have gotten chosen over an older girl. She had twenty four slips in the reaping bowl at the age of fourteen, more than even I had at the age of sixteen. The boy, Willard, doesn't talk much and quietly picks at his food.

Throughout the week Willard still doesn't talk much, but Esme tries at least. It makes me think that she hasn't given up even though I know she's terrified to die (understandable under the circumstances). Makenna helps her a lot, distracts her from her most likely impending death. Esme plays with her, talks to her and chasing my little girl around while she wobbles on her still a little unsteady legs with a smile on her face. It makes me think that Esme would make a great mother and as soon as I think that my mood darkens to realize that she probably will never get the chance to be.

On the first day of the Games, Gale and I go down to the Mentor Room with Makenna holding onto my hand as she slowly walks on her own. The Mentor Room is already a busy place but I can tell that the appearance of our little girl brings smiles to the stressed out mentors' faces. Finnick comes over instantly, abandoning his station to pick up Makenna and spin her around while she laughs happily. He smacks a big kiss on her cheek before settling her on his hip.

"Well I must say you have the cutest mentor in the room." Finnick jokes.

I roll my eyes but smile. "She's not a mentor Finnick."

"Well I'll take her as mine then." he grins back, "Say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy, Kennie!"

To our amusement, Makenna waves with a smile and says, "Bye bye!" We all laugh but Finnick doesn't actually take her away. Instead he gives her another kiss on her head and puts her down.

"So how's parenting?" Finnick questions us.

"Not bad." Gale says.

It's certainly not a walk in the park to have a baby after all. Makenna didn't sleep through the night until last month, but even that wasn't so horrible. It's not like Gale or I have slept well since our Games anyway, so getting up at random times during the night wasn't too different. Once she started crawling around and biting things we had to move a lot of stuff, trying to keep sharp objects out of her reach. The crying is what flustered me the most, because it took me a long time to figure out if she was hungry, tired, or just mad about something. She's been better about the crying in the last few months, but it still happens. And she needs so much attention and watching that it takes most of our time. Luckily we have time since we don't have to work, but still. It sounds bad, but I'll be glad when she's a little older so I can hunt again every day. Does that make me a bad mother for wanting that? Maybe, but I never thought I would be the best mother anyway.

"You're lucky to have her." Finnick replies almost jealously.

"Why don't you and Annie have kids?" I ask him. I mean, it's really the obvious solution.

He shakes his head, "I…I couldn't do that. Not to my own kids. With Annie being a Victor too, any kid of ours would be guaranteed to be re-" Finnick begins but cuts himself off when he realizes who he's talking to.

"We know." Gale replies in a low voice, assuring him that he shouldn't beat himself up for bringing up that point. "Snow's…already told us."

"What a surprise." Finnick mutters darkly, his eyes finding Makenna and not leaving her. "What are you going to do?"

"Teach her everything we know. You're from a Career District; you know how this sort of thing works better than we do." Gale replies bitterly.

"You're right." Finnick replies, "Teach her early, teach her everything. I'll help with what I can too."

We nod in response-we'll take all the help we can get on this matter. Gale and I hadn't really talked about when to start teaching her things, but if we should start early then we better begin in a few years.

"Do you have an idea when he'll do it?" he questions.

I frown with a shake of my head. "Haymitch doesn't think it will be when she's twelve because that would be too obvious, but he's pretty certain it will be no later than fifteen." And I guess that sort of makes sense. Snow would want her on the younger side so that she would be at more of a disadvantage and we wouldn't have her as long.

With that in mind, we remember our own young tributes and realize that we should probably actually look at the arena since the Games start in about half an hour, so Finnick goes back to his station and we take a quick look the arena at ours.

The Games begin and unsurprisingly, Willard dies in the bloodbath. Esme, however, miraculously misses being hit with a knife coming right at her and sprints into the woods with a small sack in hand. She makes it through the first night but on the second the Careers find her, and I turn Makenna's face to my chest so she won't see anything even if she won't remember anyway.

For the rest of the Games Gale and I help Finnick along with Johanna, and Makenna is a very helpful distraction to most of the mentors in the room. On her birthday, Cecelia and several of the other mentors who no longer have tributes (the Games are down to five now) bring a cake with one candle on it. I blow out the candle for her because she doesn't know how and let her taste her first cake. She ends up putting her hand in it and gets icing and cake all over her, much to everyone's amusement.

The Games end three days later with the boy from District 1 winning, and Gale, Makenna, and I go to wait for the birthday party tomorrow at Snow's mansion while the other Victors prepare to leave for home aside from District 1. Since no one knew when the Games would end, Snow apparently decided that the party would take place while the newest Victor was being put back together before their recap and interview. I'm sort of glad it's not her real birthday because the cake in the Mentor Room I'm certain will be a lot nicer of a celebration than the one tomorrow. At least those are people who know us.

Cinna has designed her dress for the party and I'm glad that he at least will be there. Once again we're going to a party where we basically know no one and it's for something that the guests shouldn't even be at. Her dress is pink with a glittery green one on the chest of it (I looked at Cinna strangely at that but he explained that this is what Capitolites expect at a birthday party. Apparently it's so when they're drunk out of their minds they still know how old the birthday kid is), and a pink flower headband on her soft head of ebony hair.

We arrive at the mansion for the party and Makenna is the delight of all the Capitolites. They all want a chance to take a picture with her, hold her (which I hate) and pinch her little cheeks. Gale and I have to control ourselves to not rip our daughter out of their colorful and tattooed arms, but somehow manage. It helps that none of them clearly mean any harm to Makenna, as they talk to her like she's the most precious and adorable child ever and no one drops her or anything. In fact, it's not until I smell that scent of blood and roses that I've come to hate (the scent has made Gale choke on it since his first meeting with him but I've certainly caught up to that by now) that I freeze and squeeze Makenna a little closer to me.

"So I finally get to meet the newest Hawthorne." Snow's voice says. I turn around and see that he's smiling and he says it so happily, but in his eyes I can see him boring into her. It makes me almost cringe so he can see it. In fact, I do hold my breath. "Won't you let me hold your adorable daughter?"

No. No you are certainly not allowed to hold her. But there are cameras flashing at the President actually showing up to the party at his own home (it rarely happens) and everyone is waiting for me to give her to him. He holds out his hands as his eyes look almost like vultures waiting to attack its prey with a smile and I want to run with her. Make her disappear so that this vile evil man who already assured me that she's going into the Games can't take her away from me. But I know if I did that it would only make things far far worse. So barely controlling my shaking, I hold Makenna out to him. He holds her, smiles for the cameras as Gale and I fight with every instinct we have to rip her out of his arms. We put on fake smiles for the cameras as Snow enjoys making us feel awful.

He caresses her little cheek and I want to strangle him. "What an adorable little girl you are Makenna." he says in a sickeningly sweet voice. He turns to the crowd, "What do you think about a birthday party every year?" he offers, to which they cheer. What? As if this wasn't enough, he's got to torture us more? Make us come here to celebrate her getting older when he's already numbered her years? That sick bastard. He finally hands her back to me and I press her a little too quickly into my arms. Snow chuckles at my protectiveness before leaving with a satisfied smile on his face.


	22. Hopeful

Finnick's POV

"Where you going Finnick?" asks Carper, my tribute from the 80th Hunger Games and the newest Victor. He's eating breakfast right now before his prep team and stylist whisks him away and he's evidently a little confused as to why I'm up so early if I have nothing to do.

"Going into town." I tell him.

"At eight in the morning? We just got here and there's really not much to see in District 12." Carper points out.

I laugh. "I'm visiting. Trust me, they'll be up. Hunters, you know." That's probably one of the best things about being on a Victory tour as a mentor. I get the chance to see all my friends that I would normally only see once a year unless we talk on the phone (and talk about the rebellion). And even then most of my conversations I have to be on my guard because I'm certain that they're tapped by the Capitol.

"Can I come with you?" Carper pleads once he realizes what I'm doing.

"Sorry Carper, but you have to get ready. You'll meet them later I promise." I smile to which he sighs and rolls his eyes.

"God, this tour is going to take forever with that bunch of idiots prepping me." He complains.

My eyebrows rise at that. "Do you really want to get to the Capitol sooner?"

"…No. In fact, can we make the tour last longer?" Carper questions with a groan.

I chuckle once before muttering, "I wish." I don't want to get to the Capitol any sooner than he does. All it means is that I have to go on appointments, and unfortunately for Carper it means the same for him as well. When he found that out he wasn't so thrilled at winning, but there wasn't any turning back at that point so he grudgingly agreed and I've helped him through it since.

I wave goodbye to him and slip out of the train, walking aimlessly (and ignoring a lot of strange looks I'm getting) until I find the street towards Victor's Village. I actually don't know which house is theirs since I've never been there before, but there are only three occupied houses in the Victor's Village here-it can't possibly be that hard to find.

So I walk up to a random house that is obviously lived in and knock on the door. I knock on it and a girl with black hair around the age of nine or ten answers, and her grey eyes go wide. Whoops, obviously the wrong house.

I smile at the little girl. "Hi. Can you tell me where Gale and Katniss live?"

She points to the house next door. "You're Finnick Odair right?"

I chuckle at her. "That's right. Who are you?"

"Posy Hawthorne." she answers.

"You're Gale's sister right?" I ask, and she nods with a blush. "Well Posy, thank you for helping me." She mumbles a thank you through her red cheeks and shuts the door. I laugh at that as I walk to the house she pointed at.

When I knock on the door I hear feet running and a few seconds later it opens cautiously, a tiny head peaking out. When she sees it's me she flings open the door with a huge smile on her face.

"Uncle Finn!" She cries, and bounds into my arms as I pick up the three year old little girl. Of course I'm not her real uncle, but when she randomly started calling me that (she calls her Katniss and Gale's siblings aunt and uncle so I guess she thought I was one too) none of us had the heart to tell her otherwise. Besides, I kind of like it. If I'm not going to have kids of my own I'll be glad to have a fake niece.

"Hey Kennie! When did you get so big?" I ask her. She giggles as her parents come to the door.

"You're early." Katniss smiles as she and Gale take turns hugging me.

"Well you know, I told them that if we were going to go exploring then they better move that train at twice the speed." I grin. The four of us go exploring in the woods that Katniss and Gale frequent to hunt that morning, and while it's so different from the ocean back home I can see how it has the same effect on them. The ocean makes me come alive; it makes me feel a sense of freedom that I can't get in the district. It's obviously the same for them here in their woods past the fence.

Once it's regrettably time to go back to change for the speech and whatever, I walk them to their house but don't go back to the train right away. Instead, I walk to the only other occupied house in Victor's Village that I haven't gone knocking on yet. I knock on the door a few times before just walking in. The stench is what hits me first and I really want to run in the other direction. God, Haymitch lives like this? I mean I knew he was a drunk, but you have got to be kidding me.

I walk around the floor trying not to breath until I find him sitting at the table drinking.

"You're up? Why didn't you answer the door?" I ask him.

"Thought you were peacekeepers or something coming to get me for the ceremony." Haymitch replies. I roll my eyes but let it go.

"Want to walk me back to the train? It'll get you out of this train wreck of a house for a few minutes." I question him. He laughs but agrees, and once we're out the door I take in the better air.

"What the hell is going on? They still know nothing?" I argue. Really, I had been hoping to talk about it with them but when they never brought it up I kept my mouth shut this morning.

Haymitch frowns. "Coin. She wants to wait for the little one to be the spark."

Coin wants me to still have to do this appointment shit for maybe ten years or more? I huff in frustration. "But that's in years Haymitch! Besides, I thought that Katniss and Gale were the Mockingjays."

"They are. Coin wants the little one to be something else but she wants her older." Haymitch replies gruffly.

"She wants a what? Thirteen year old to lead this rebellion? This is ridiculous." I shake my head.

"Not alone, but she wants her to be the spark. Which means we have to wait until she's in the Games." Haymitch states, clearly annoyed as well. "There are just so many problems right now. The crackdown in the districts is quashing a lot of rebellion. We need more power in the Capitol. 13's still rebuilding and reorganizing after losing too many people. I've sent at least 20 but I can't send the whole damn district."

Twenty? How the hell did he pull that off? Haymitch will never cease to amaze me. "We've sent some too, but isn't there any way to not use Makenna? If she didn't exist we were just going to use the two of them anyway." I mutter.

"We're trying Finnick. Sorry kid." he exclaims, and he actually does look a little bit remorseful so I let it drop for now. There has to be a way to end this horror before that, right? It annoys me to no end that I currently can't think of one.

Katniss's POV

It's the beginning of the 81st Hunger Games, and for the first time I can most definitely say that District 12 has a shot at winning, because we have not one but two decent tributes this year. The first is the sixteen year old boy, Shane Daley who despite being Seam seems pretty strong. He got a seven in training and he's pretty good with a sword. I don't know how he does it because he's never picked one up before this week, but he has such a sheer will power and will not go down without a fight that I have faith in him. The second is my tribute, the seventeen year old daughter of our butcher, Rooba, named Nelia Gristle. Nelia has the town look but despite that is rather plain looking. However, she's been working with her mother most of her life so she's good with a knife but amazing with a meat cleaver. If we can somehow send her that with sponsor money I know she can make it far on the fighting end. I still hate the Hunger Games, but having two decent tributes actually gives Gale and I hope this year. We've worked hard with them and we made plans with them-we can only hope that they pull them off now.

The arena this year is basically a bunch of islands, separated by rivers that vary in width. I can't be gladder that Gale and I started teaching our tributes in the last few years how to swim in that hidden pool. None of them are the best swimmers by far, but they won't drown now. It's something at least, but this is the first year that it will truly give our tributes an advantage. Who knows how deep or how fast those rivers are? If only Nelia and Shane know how to stay afloat other than Finnick's tributes and maybe a couple more that will help them immensely.

As the Games are beginning in a few minutes, I hand Makenna a puzzle that I found on our floor in the Training Center and ask her to complete it for me. Since she's four now she most definitely remembers Shane and Nelia and she's already started asking questions that Gale and I don't really want to answer. If I can keep her distracted through the bloodbath at least I can avoid a lot of questions that there is no beating around the bush to answer. It's makes me sort of a silly person to try everything I can to have her avoid it (especially since we're in the Mentor Room) but once the bloodbath is over it will be helpful. In the past few years when some of our Victor friends lost their tributes on the first day but we haven't they take Makenna on a walk, or to the food room, or wherever so she won't see it. Usually Gale or I would do it if we lost one of our tributes, but since we have faith in both of them this year we have to unfortunately rely on puzzles and others this year if we're right about Shane and Nelia.

Once the tributes come up, I grab Gale's hand and hold it tight, nervous for Nelia and Shane. They appear ready though, and find each other around the circle of platforms and nod at something. When the gong rings they both sprint for the Cornucopia but don't go in very far. Instead, Shane sprints in the direction of Nelia and grabs a backpack on his way, tossing it over his shoulder as Nelia (the faster runner) goes further in for a belt of knives.

She tosses one to Shane before turning around only to find herself in the face of one of the Careers, the girl from District 1 with a spear in hand. Shane throws the knife at the Career as she almost lets the spear go straight for Nelia's chest, and the knife hits her in the arm. The Career flinches and turns to pull the knife out, but it's enough time for Nelia and Shane to run and they go for one of the islands that is across the river surrounding the Cornucopia island. Instead of being tentative about it they barrel on in, obviously taking their chances in the hope that they can get away. Luckily this river is only about knee deep and they splash through it quickly, finding themselves on the next island about thirty yards away.

I relax a little more when they're out of sight of the bloodbath. It was always the plan for them to work together for as long as possible. We knew that if they were going for supplies in the Cornucopia it would be far better to be a pair to get stuff and get out if they were going to make it out alive. It's the same thing with Gale and I being hunting partners all these years; you're far safer if you have someone watching your back. Besides the fact in the Hunger Games they can easily get more sleep since they can take turns sleeping and guarding.

For the rest of the day Nelia and Shane sprint at first, then jog before walking through the island. Around midafternoon the bloodbath is over, thirteen cannons ringing. Wow, that's definitely on the high side for a bloodbath. Must have been because a lot of people can't swim so they froze when they came to the water.

When Nelia and Shane come to the other side of it they find yet another river with a few islands within visibility. This time though, they tentatively step into the river, and find that it's much deeper than the first one-about shoulder height this time. Neither of them are the best swimmers but they manage, keeping their heads above water and sort of doggy paddling their way across the twenty yards across river. When they make it they collapse on the sand for a few minutes to catch their breaths, but as it is almost sunset they know that they have to move on and find a place to stay for the night. They climb one of the cliffs and lay down flat on their backs, currently the best solution. The cliff has a decent view of most of the river that surrounds the island so the person on guard will most likely be able to see if the Career pack is coming their way, meaning that they can quietly go in the opposite direction. Once the anthem comes on they watch silently. The boy from 1 (that's a surprise), the girl from 2 (what is this?), both from 3, both from 5, the girl from 6, the girl from 7, the boy from 8, both from 9, the boy from 10 and the girl from 11. What is this? Did the Career pack break up already or was there even a real one this year? Having one Career die on the first day is a surprise in itself, but two? A broken Career pack can only be good for us-it means that they actually have a fighting chance this year if they happen to run into a Career. Nelia and Shane look equally as confused as I am about the two dead Careers, but don't talk about it too much tonight in case the Careers are already hunting tributes. Instead, Nelia takes first guard and Shane sleeps.

Once they settle down for the night I mostly watch the center screen, letting Gale go to sleep first this year so one of us is always up. Johanna comes back with Makenna from wherever they've been since the bloodbath (I'm guessing they had an interesting afternoon. Johanna not exactly the most kid friendly person) and Makenna jumps into my lap.

"Did you have a good day?" I ask her.

She nods with a smile. "Uh huh. Johanna helped me climb a tree!"

"A tree?" I question, looking at Johanna. Where did she find a tree in the Capitol?

"Training Room. You're welcome by the way." Johanna tells me. Really? Well I guess Makenna's teaching has officially begun. I knew Finnick would try to help, but I only half expected Johanna to.

"Thanks." I reply. "Do you have any idea what's going on with the Careers?" I question her. It looks like from what I've been watching that the Careers aren't working as a group of four but as two pairs-the District 4 pair and the other two.

"Finnick didn't have a clue. He's actually pretty pissed at them for breaking the pack on the first day but I guess they think that they'll work better as a pair." Johanna shrugs. That's…interesting. I hope the District 4 pair is wrong on that assessment just for Shane and Nelia's sakes.

But incredulously, I don't think that they were wrong in their thinking. Not when about three hours after sunset they find and kill the boy from six. Especially not when they find the tall girl from 10, who actually had a fighting chance this year and overtake her with their superior weapons and the strength of two Careers. Finnick's tributes are strong, swim through the rivers like they're nothing no matter how deep, wide, or fast the current is, and they have the best weapons available. It makes me extremely nervous for Nelia and Shane, because while they are working as a pair, the District 4 tributes have obviously worked together before (probably in training) and are almost as good of a partnership as Gale and I are when we hunt. Shane and Nelia need some small advantage if they are going to have a chance against them.

With this in mind, I tell Gale when I wake him up around dawn to send a meat cleaver to Nelia as soon as he can. I feel bad that we're leaving Shane without his perfered weapon, but Nelia uses a meat cleaver like it's an extension of her arm. In a fight that would be the best advantage because Shane has only begun using a sword this week.

And on the third day of the Games when it's down to seven tributes, I can't be gladder that Nelia has that meat cleaver.


	23. Questions

Gale's POV

As about a half dozen multicolored island bird-mutts attack Shane with their beaks I have a sort of silent panic attack, tensing in my chair and not blinking as I watch him get jabbed at by the bird-mutts as Nelia hacks away at them with her meat cleaver. The sheer disturbance scares most of them off, but not before a few get in a good jab or two at Shane. Nelia did however kill two and they currently lie on the ground next to a writhing Shane and as he bleeds red and they bleed a curious bright blue. Nelia drops to the ground next to Shane, and with a look of fear examines his wounds. He has two holes on his back and one on his stomach, about an inch in diameter each.

I wish we had enough sponsor money to send him the right kind of medicine, but frustratingly enough we don't. We spent a lot getting Nelia that meat cleaver (for which I'm thankful for because I doubt she would have succeeded in scaring or hacking so many birds at one time without it), but even with the money we have left over after that it's certainly not enough to send medicine for these wounds. Not only do gifts get more expensive as the Games progress, but since these Games seem to be going extra fast (there are only seven tributes left) I suspect that they are jacking up the prices even more because of it. I know for a fact that in Frasier's Games a few years ago I sent him similar medicine to what I want to send now and that was a week into the Games-this is three days in.

Nelia does what she can with what they have in the backpack that Shane grabbed, which basically means cleaning the wounds with water and awkwardly bandaging them with the little bandage cloth they have. I can tell that Shane is still in a great amount of pain but he's trying not to show it. Nelia helps him up and they walk a little slowly to a hidden alcove on the current island that they are on about a mile away. I have a feeling they aren't going anywhere for the rest of the day. Well, at least it's late afternoon.

Shane is still in a lot of pain, but after the death toll that night of the boy from seven (a Career kill of the District 1 and 2 pair), he insists on taking first guard. Nelia doesn't look like she thinks this is a good idea but he's persistent, so she finally gives in and clutches her meat cleaver in her hand as she tries to sleep.

"Well, I'm going to sleep." Katniss announces tiredly. She's been staying up as long as she can for the past few days because she always wants to be there for Nelia. "Come on Kennie."

Makenna pouts from where she's playing with a doll on the floor. "But I don't wanna sleep. Can I stay with Daddy?"

Katniss and I look at each other and then the screens. It seems like it might be a pretty dull night. Nelia's sleeping while Shane tries to keep quiet with a grimace on his face as he guards. The Career pair is on the island over from them, far closer than I would like them to be but they don't look like they're hunting tributes tonight, as the District 1 girl guards while the District 2 boy sleeps. It's strange that they're together still, but maybe they're just pissed at Finnick's tributes and they're on the war path for them; after all, they have a far better shot at taking them down together. Finnick's tributes are on the hunt, but they are on the opposite side of the arena so Nelia and Shane should be safe for the night. The lone other tribute, the boy from 11, huddles by himself in a tree probably praying that he won't be found by anyone or anything tonight. It should be alright for her to stay up then. She'll probably fall asleep before anything 'exciting' happens anyway if that miraculously comes about.

"Alright." Katniss sighs. Makenna stands up and crawls into my lap with her doll in hand and Katniss comes over to us.

"Night Catnip." I say, and she leans down for a quick kiss before pressing her lips to Makenna's temple and then goes straight to one of the beds behind us for some rest.

It is a pretty quiet night after all. For the first hour or so Makenna and I sit in silence, me watching the screen and absentmindedly stroking her hair as she plays with her doll and looks up at the screens every once in a while. At some point she looks up at me and says, "Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are they on the tvs?" she asks while pointing to Shane and Nelia on the screen in front of me and I freeze. Shit, what am I supposed to say to her? Katniss and I have been trying to avoid these questions-but I don't have anyone or anything to distract her right now and she's waiting intently for an answer.

"They're playing a game." I say after a moment. Well, it's kind of the truth. Not really playing so much as fighting for their lives.

"What kind of game?" she questions. Um…

"A game they got chosen to play in." I answer, avoiding really answering the question. Luckily she's only four and can't pick up on that yet.

"Oh. What do they get if they win?" Makenna asks. Seriously, did I ask this many questions when I was four? Of course my parents didn't have to take me to the Capitol for the Hunger Games every year but still. What did they say to me?

"They get a big house like we live in." I tell her. Not to mention a shit ton of trouble and horror. And nightmares…and destroyed lives…and Snow on your ass…

"Did you win this game?"

"…Yes." I reply. My fucking god I do not want to have this conversation.

"Did Mommy win too?"

"Mmhmm. I think that's enough questions for tonight." I respond, trying to avoid her curious eyes so she hopefully stops asking questions. But of course she's too stubborn for that.

"What happens if you lose the game?" Makenna persists. Shit, I can't tell her that you die. Umm…

"The losers go to sleep for a really long time." a voice behind me answers her. I turn my head to find Cecilia with a warm smile and I'm grateful for her answer and her presence. Better answer than I could have come up with.

"Like Sleeping Beauty. Remember when Aunt Posy read you that story?" I add quickly as Cecilia sits down in Katniss's empty chair.

Makenna nods at that and she's quiet for a minute studying the screens in front of her. I sigh in relief that we're done with this conversation, but of course that's too much to ask for.

"Can I play this game too?" she asks, and both Cecilia and I freeze at that. Yes, yes you will have to play this horrible game one day. But I certainly don't want you to-ever.

"Maybe." Cecilia finally says with a barely steady voice when she realizes that I'm staring down at Makenna in horror and can't physically make myself speak. Luckily that's the real end of the conversation, and about ten minutes later Makenna drifts off and is lightly snoring with her head lying against my chest.

"That's what I told my children too. About the sleeping part." Cecelia says quietly maybe a half hour after Makenna has fallen asleep. When I don't reply she continues, "But she'll find out the truth eventually. When you start teaching her things she's only going to ask more questions. And she'll find out in school."

"Does it get any easier?" I eventually find the courage to ask.

Cecilia gives me a sad smile. "Some. Lucy was the hardest because once she figured it out she wanted to learn. That girl's too smart for her own good-stubborn too. Her brothers were easier because they saw Lucy being taught."

"Oh great." I reply sarcastically. Not only is Makenna smart, she's extremely stubborn and persistent (I guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree). And she's going to start school in a little over a year and I could bet that she'll be like Cecilia's Lucy when she figures it out. I want to teach her everything and want to hide her (even if that's irrational because there's no possible way to hide her from Snow) at the same time.

"Lucy is safe-this was her last year. Maybe she'll be safe too." Cecilia says hopefully, but I can tell even she doesn't really believe it. Being the child of not one but two Victors pretty much guarantees her reaping, and I'm sure that Cecelia doesn't even need to know that Snow's confirmed it to guess correctly.

"I wish." I sigh. If only wishes were enough.

Katniss's POV

It's early evening on the fourth day of the Games, and there has only been one death today-the boy from 11. But what bothers me more than the way that the District 2 boy completely pulversized him is that Shane's wounds from the bird-mutts are infected. They're oozing a bright blue, the same as the blood that the dead ones bleed on the ground next to him yesterday, and I can tell that it's causing him a lot of pain. It's horrible because there's nothing we can send, nothing we can do for him. And I can tell that it's slowly killing him by the way his movements slow-it's paralyzing him.

"Come on Shane, just a little bit more." Nelia pleads.

"Nelia, I can't. You have to leave me so you'll be alright." Shane argues back as he sort of limps beside her. He's been trying to make her leave him so she can live longer for the last couple of hours, but Nelia adamantly refuses.

"No I'm not going to do that. Come on, just a little more and then we can rest." she exclaims with a tone of authority. Shane sighs but gives up for now. Perhaps he thinks that whatever this blue stuff is will paralyze him before he can move anymore and then she'll have to leave. But before they get very far after that a herd of deer-mutts are racing towards them and they run for their lives. Adrenaline must be a more powerful thing than I thought because while Shane has been slowly losing his muscle movement, he runs almost as fast as Nelia. The deer herd chases them to the edge of the island and strangely into the river as well-this one about waist high so they sort of splash/awkwardly walk through it until they get to another island. I would breathe easier that the herd has stopped chasing them until I see why-the District 4 pair is there as well. Oh god no.

The boy almost snarls and comes right at them with his sword in hand as the girl stays back and throws her spear at them. But as soon as the spear is let go the other Career pair come barreling down the hill with weapons ready and snarls on their faces. It's a mini bloodbath almost, though no one has died yet. Oops, spoke too soon.

Nelia is half protecting Shane (who once again can't move too well), half fighting. While the District 2 boy's back is turned she sprints the four yards forward and hacks away at his hand with such force that it comes clear off. The stunned Career looks down at his now bloody stump and comes around with his mace in hand, but Nelia ducks and hacks at his ankle this time. It doesn't come off like the hand, but you can clearly see bone. The boy cries and she pushes him over, gets on top of him and brings the meat cleaver to his throat.

BOOM!

The District 1 girl looks over to see what happened and seems horrified that he's dead. She runs at a full sprint from her fight with the District 4 girl and comes over to kill Nelia no doubt, who is currently standing up and readying herself. The District 1 girl aims with her knives and throws both at Nelia from a distance at the same time. But neither hit her-Shane took all the movement he had left and threw himself in front of her, taking one of the knifes to his chest and the other to his shoulder. He falls to the ground and Nelia looks at him and the girl coming for her. But luckily the District 1 girl is preoccupied again by the District 4 girl, so Nelia is safe for the minute.

Shane breathes in gasps. "Go. Leave. Run away."

"What? I'm not leaving you."

Shane chokes up blood this time but shakes his head. "No Nelia. I'm dead. You have to live and it won't be through this fight. Live for another day-win. For me." Nelia is crying now, and shaking her head.

"Please." Shane pleads in a whisper. Nelia finally gets up and with a look back, runs from the island. She runs and runs, and when she hears Shane's cannon a few minutes after leaving she sobs once but keeps going. For Shane.

That night when the anthem plays, the sky shows a still crying silently Nelia the faces of the District 1 girl, the District 2 boy, the District 4 boy, the District 11 boy, and Shane. When Shane comes on she does the three fingered salute to the sky and tries to sleep but fails. I doubt that the Gamemakers meant for that mini bloodbath to actually be such a bloodbath. I mean sure they probably thought that there would be a death or two, but not that many. There are only two tributes left now-Nelia and the District 4 girl. The Games surely won't last past tomorrow, but they might give them the night to recuperate. That is, if the District 4 girl isn't already on the hunt for Nelia…

Though I'm exhausted already, I decide to stay up all night just in case the District 4 girl happens to find Nelia and Gale stays up with me while Makenna sleeps on his lap. The final fight comes at dawn though, when the District 4 girl finally finds Nelia in the pale morning light.

"So you ran away from me? Smart girl, but that's pathetic." The girl says to Nelia with her spear in hand, clearly enjoying this. She obviously believes that this is an easy win for her.

"He asked me to leave. I couldn't ignore his last wish." Nelia claims, hands going behind her to grab a knife in her hand that isn't clutching the meat cleaver.

The Career girl laughs. "Aw how sweet. So you run for your district partner instead of fighting and killing like a real tribute."

"I killed the District 2 boy easy enough before I left." Nelia exclaims with a smirk. I know she's probably not taking that as well as she's claiming but at least she's going to appear confident in her last fight.

The District 4 girl falters a bit from that, but then gives Nelia a once over before deciding on something. "Decent job then-I wondered who killed him. But I assure you he was no match for me, and you're facing me, not him." She smiles.

"That's a lot of talk for a fight." Nelia claims, knife ready in her throwing arm by her side.

"Well let's end this thing, shall we?"

With that confirmation Nelia whips out the knife and hits the girl in the shoulder. The District 4 girl looks generally surprised by this, clearly not seeing what Nelia was doing while they were talking. But she wastes no time in throwing her spear, which luckily misses because Nelia has taken off to her right and is coming around with her meat cleaver in one hand and a second knife in the other. The District 4 girl has her sword ready and they fight, Nelia taking a good swipe from the sword to her right thigh, before she brings down her meat cleaver to the girl's face, giving her a large cut on her cheek that bleeds profusely. They battle for a while, Nelia succeeding in cutting off the girl's hand that was clutching her sword but not before taking another good swipe to her stomach. The meat cleaver falls out of her hand when the girl pushes her over but she brings the knife up and swipes at her opponent before throwing it with poor accuracy, it landing in the water and sinking.

Both girls are now on the ground bleeding profusely, weaponless and breathing hard. Nelia curls herself into a fedal position as to try and stop the bleeding in her stomach while the District 4 girl holds her head in her one hand, trying to stop that from bleeding. So I guess the winner will be determined by who bleeds out first then. Both girls are on the ground and the mentor room is silent, waiting for the winner to be announced. About ten minutes later a cannon booms. Who won? No one knows who it is-until Claudius's voice comes on.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Victor of the Eighty-First Hunger Games, Nelia Gristle of District 12!"

Yes! She won! I'm up out of my chair and Gale takes me in his around before kissing me with so much fire that I forget that we're in the Mentor Room. When we come up for air we're both smiling happily.

"Mommy? Did Nelia win the game and she's gonna get a big house like ours?" Makenna asks me. I pull myself out of Gale's embrace and pick her up with a smile on my face, kissing her little cheek.

"Yeah Kennie. Nelia won." I smile at her. Perhaps I'm not the worst mentor ever in the end.


	24. Maybes

Gale's POV

When we go to Makenna's fourth birthday party the day after the Games end we're all in a really good mood for once. In fact, I almost don't care that we have to go to this damn party at Snow's ostentatious mansion again because we have a Victor that will be coming home with us for the first time since Katniss. I would be worried that Snow would take it out on Nelia, but apparently that's not going to be a problem.

Nelia's not a popular Victor for a few reasons. One being that she basically won because she didn't bleed to death as fast as her opponent, and she was unconscious when they took her out of the arena (she's been in surgery but she's going to be alright…well physically anyway. No Victor is 'alright'). The other being that people don't think that she should have won because she probably wouldn't have had it not been for that blue paralyzing goo that was on her meat cleaver from the bird-mutts. Apparently when she hit the District 4 girl in the face with it, the goo got into the girl's brain and basically shut it down, quickly killing her. Had it not been for that mutt stuff, Nelia surely would have died first with her far more fatal wounds (and a lot of Capitolites lost a lot of money that they bet on the District 4 girl). But not being popular is a good thing when it comes to being a Victor; maybe this means that she'll generally be left alone.

It turns out that I might be right on that one. Snow didn't come to Makenna's party and while people congratulate us on having a Victor, none of them are obsessed with Nelia or anything. At her recap the next day, Katniss almost gets a bigger cheer than her because she's her mentor and far more popular. It was also an incredibly quick Games so people didn't have as great of a chance to like her or bet on her, so this can only work in her favor. She's not entirely happy about people not liking her as well as Katniss or anything, but Carper, Finnick's Victor from last year helps a lot. He and Nelia talked all night and the next day before her interview, and I can tell that they like each other-it's sort of cute. Katniss notices too (a shocking thing in itself; maybe she is getting better with reading people other than me).

"Look." she says, pointing to where Carper is flirting and Nelia is blushing. "Back to back Victors falling in love."

"Gee, who does that sound like?" I tease.

She shakes her head with a smile, "I don't know if you can compare that."

"Why not? Seems pretty similar to me." I reply, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You cheated."

"Did not."

"What do you call basically not giving me a choice on the matter?" Katniss smirks. We've never really discussed this even though I sort of knew it, but she doesn't seem too mad (or at least now she isn't mad).

"You always had a choice." I reply. I had given her time to just be friends and I didn't push it after she found out that I really loved her after all.

"No I didn't." Katniss shakes her head and blushes. "It was always going to be you. I didn't realize it until later though."

Really? That's…interesting. And flattering. "So what if neither of us went into the Games? Still think that?" I question just to test her theory. She was so against a relationship and everything she has now for such a long time that I don't know if we would really be where we are now if the Games never happened for one or both of us.

She pauses, looking into the distance. "Maybe." she whispers.

Well that certainly comes as a surprise. I almost wish I could have tested that theory now-we would probably be in a hell of a lot less trouble and stress then we are now, what with Snow on our asses and will definitely make good on putting Makenna in the Games. Maybe we would have had some of this anyway-the good parts at least.

I pull her into me with my hands around her waist and press my lips to hers before I look on to the two new Victor lovers. "Maybe."

Nelia's POV

"Well I'll see you in a few weeks then." I say happily. I honestly can't wait for the Victory tour…or maybe just District 4.

Carper and I have been talking about once a week, and I've found it helps a little with the nightmares if we talk about them together. I still can't bring myself to go into the butcher shop again. I had told myself before going into that arena that I could pretend I was just chopping meat like I have my whole life with a meat cleaver when it came to tributes. And it was surprisingly easy-that scared me more than anything. However, chopping already dead animals and chopping live people to kill them has a far different effect on me. Almost half my nightmares have meat cleavers in them and me being a monster…

"Bye Nel…can't wait." Carper replies before hanging up, and I blush. I've never been the most popular girl (which apparently I should be thankful for as a Victor) and having a…well whatever you call it that Carper and I have is such a new concept for me, but I love it. I hear the doorbell ring as soon as I hang up the phone and go answer it. To my surprise it's Haymitch. What on earth does this drunk want?

"Hey blondie." Haymitch slurs, a bottle in his hand sloshing around.

"Hi Haymitch." I reply awkwardly, but he doesn't seem to notice. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah I need some help with sometin. Can ya help me?" he asks. I sigh-well I really don't have anything else to do, and it's probably stupid whatever he wants. When it comes to Haymitch I've found that it's far easier to just do what he wants-you have a lot less arguing that way.

I call to grandfather that I'll be gone for a while and close the door, following Haymitch. Curiously he doesn't take me to his house or town, but into the wooden area behind Victor's Village. I follow him in confusion, trying and failing to figure out where we're going. It isn't until I can see the back of the mayor's house through the trees that I finally say something.

"Where are we going?" I question him.

"Hold on, we're almost there." Haymitch replies, sounding far less drunk than he did ten minutes ago at my doorstep in Victor's Village. In fact, he seems almost sober now. What's going on?

He leads me about two minutes more towards the mayor's house before stopping by a random large tree. "After you." He gestures to the tree. Alright, maybe he really is drunk.

"Haymitch, that's not a door. It's a tree." I point out, looking at him strangely. I don't care how drunk he is, there's no way he's that stupid. Maybe he's on morphling too? I've heard that can mess with your mind quite a bit.

He chuckles. "Are ya sure?" and goes up to the tree, pulling on a random piece of bark. To my astonishment and confusion, the tree opens like a door. I look at him again for some semblance of what on earth is happening, but he just smirks and gestures for me to go in. Baffled, I decide to go down the steps until I'm in a room, Haymitch right behind me after he closes the…tree. To my utter confusion, there's someone in the room-Mayor Undersee.

"Ah Nelia, welcome." the mayor says with a warm smile.

Alright, something is obviously off here. "What's going on?" I finally ask. Nothing about this situation is normal in the least. I would say it's a strange dream but I'm pretty sure it's not.

"Sit down." the mayor says with a smile. "We have some things to discuss with you."

"Things? What sort of things?" I question, taking a seat on the bench pushed against one of the dirt walls.

"The rebellion blondie." Haymitch replies. Rebellion?

Haymitch and Mayor Undersee tell me all this stuff-how there's a rebellious force in every district and the Capitol, how Victors are a huge help for information and keeping people up to date, how District 13 actually exists and Haymitch has been sending people there. How Katniss and Gale are the Mockingjays and they want Makenna to be a leader too. They want Makenna to be the spark of the rebellion when she goes into the Games (because apparently that's a guarantee). The whole time I just listen dumbfounded, half believing them and half not.

"Hold up. How do you expect me to believe you without proof? District 13's alive?" I ask, unconvinced.

"How would you like to see a picture of my daughter Madge and her family in 13?" the mayor offers.

"But Madge is-" I start, but cut myself off when I'm about to say dead. How can he possibly not think that?

"Dead? She's not; been in 13 for years. We faked her death so she could escape there." Haymitch tells me as the mayor pulls a picture out of his breast pocket and hands it to me.

"This was taken a few months ago. Madge gave it to me when the hovercraft was picking up another few 'dead' people." the mayor exclaims. I take the picture hesitantly and study it. It's of a family alright, and I vaguely recognize the mayor's daughter though she looks older than I remember. There are two little blonde boys in the picture too, one about four and the other maybe two. But that's not what gives me pause. It's the man sitting next to the mayor's daughter in the picture with the two year old on his lap that I study in confusion. But how? Maybe they aren't lying to me after all.

"This is Rye Mellark." I state, looking up in confusion. I mean he's older than when he died (or at least I thought he did) but it's definitely him.

"Yes. Do you know him well?" the mayor questions and I nod.

"Of course. He was my brother's best friend." I reply, and both men nod it off. "But you don't understand-Rye died in that same New Year's party explosion as my brother almost five years ago."

"Rye's not dead and neither is your brother. They're both living in 13 right now." Haymitch says.

I shake my head. Teddy wouldn't have done that. He wouldn't have made us think he was dead all these years…would he? "I don't believe you. My brother wouldn't have done that to me."

Haymitch sighs, but picks up the phone from the table a few feet away from where he's standing and starts dialing.

"What are you-" I start asking, but he gives me a glare that says shut up and I do.

"Abernathy here. I need Soldier Gristle for a moment." Haymitch orders into the phone before nodding at it and giving it to me.

"What-"

"Wait. He'll be on in a few minutes." Haymitch says, crossing his arms. I stare at him, not believing him at all but humor the two men in front of me and keep the phone to my ear. After five minutes or so of dead silence from the other line I'm about to roll my eyes at the two men and tell them that this is ridiculous when I hear a crackle on the phone.

"Soldier Gristle here." a man's voice says. I know that voice-it's Teddy. It's really him-he's not dead. Tears start rolling down my cheeks as I force myself to say something.

"Teddy?" I whisper in relief.

"…Nelly?" Teddy says in shock. "Oh Nelly I've missed you guys so much. I'm so sorry for leaving you like that."

"How could you do that?" I ask through a sob.

"You know how much I hate the Capitol. Especially after Dad…" Teddy argues back with a sigh, but I can tell he's still feeling guilty. My Dad had been killed when I was six. He had given meat to some Seam people for free all the time because he hated to see them starving and some peacekeepers found out. They took him from our home and he was dead the next day. I had never cried more in my life but Teddy didn't cry-he was angry. He's always blamed the Capitol for killing our father and hates them for it. So maybe it shouldn't surprise me that he'd eagerly be a rebel but still-it would have been nice to know that he wasn't dead.

"I know. I just…really missed you. Don't do that to me again." I order with a sigh. He chuckles but then he pauses for a moment.

"Hey Nelly?"

"Yeah?" I answer.

"I'm really glad that you didn't die in the Games. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to support you but I was rooting for you the whole time." Teddy informs.

"You…saw them?" I ask, afraid that he did. What does he think of seeing me become a killer? I hate myself for it so I can't imagine what he thinks of me.

"Yeah." he says, and then there's silence for a moment. "Don't tell me you don't hate the Capitol after that."

"You're right. I do hate them." I concede. After all, it's the Capitol's fault that there are a Games in the first place that I had to be in. It's their fault that I don't have a father because he was trying to be kind and they didn't like that.

"Then stick it to them Nelia. We can bring them down and you can help." Teddy replies. I nod even though he can't see it.

"You're right. Let's bring those bastards down." I reply almost viciously. It must seem pretty funny with tears still rolling down my face.

"Let's do. Hey Nelly, I have to go. I love you and I'm really sorry." Teddy says sadly.

"Love you too." I reply and the phone hangs up. I wipe my tears and look up to the two men that have been obviously listening to the whole conversation. The mayor's just smiling warmly at the whole scene but Haymitch is smirking.

"Welcome to the fuck the Capitol train blondie." Haymitch smirks.

I shake my head with a smile. They had said that Victors help… "Does Carper know about this?"

Haymitch nods and hands me something. "Give him this when we're in District 4 and he'll know that you're on board." I look down and see that it's a cracker with a bird on it. But I'm confused.

"What's this? These are like the crackers my father used to hand out at his meetings." I say, looking at Haymitch.

"Yeah, he was a good man. Helped a lot with the rebellion before they shot him." Haymitch informs me, and suddenly a lot more stuff makes sense. My father had meetings with a lot of men, strangely a lot of Seam men for a town person. They would talk in low voices and hand out these crackers with mockingjays on them. Apparently my father was a rebel then…no wonder Teddy was so willing to be one too-he's just like my father.

I shake my head. "But you don't understand. This isn't the same bird as what my father handed out. This isn't a mockingjay."

"No it's not." Haymitch states the obvious, and my eyebrows furrow in confusion. I may not know much, but I'm pretty sure that the mockingjay is the symbol of the rebellion-especially after what I've heard today and the sudden clarity of my father's meetings when I was young.

"But I thought that the mockingjay was the symbol of the rebellion." I dispute.

"It was. Still sort of is with Katniss and Gale." The mayor tells me.

"But you said that they don't know anything about the rebellion." I point out.

"You're right, and they still won't until the time is right. The first thing the Capitol is going to do when we break Makenna out of the arena is go after her parents. If we can't get them to safety in time, then the whole thing will go a lot better for everyone if they know absolutely nothing." The mayor explains. Well, I guess that sort of makes sense.

"Plus their every word and move is watched by Snow." Haymitch adds. I look at him in confusion. How could he possibly know that? "Trust me, they are. Snow's not the biggest fan of the two people who defy him at every turn." Really? I should ask him one day exactly what every turn is but not now. I have a more pressing matter at the moment.

"But it still doesn't explain this." I protest, holding up the cracker, "What's it for?"

"Do you know why we used a mockingjay as the symbol?" Haymitch questions me.

"No…not really." I blush. You would think I should know.

"A mockingjay should have never existed-just like a rebellion. Just like Gale and Katniss are the rebels that won the Hunger Games; that's why they're the Mockingjays. But the rebellion went to dust with a few consecutive hard hits, making us start from the ashes of the burned down rebellion." Haymitch enlightens. "But now we have a new rebellion-this is the symbol that we will rise again from the ashes, a rebellion born of fire. That it never truly dies." Of course. It makes sense now as I study the bird on the cracker again in awe.

"A phoenix."


	25. Suspicions

Katniss's POV

Ring ring. Ring ring.

"Hold on I got to get that." I say to Prim before getting up to answer the phone. She's been here all morning because I'm helping her organize some things that she needs to take to her new house.

"Hello?" I say to the phone.

"Hi Katniss. How've you been?" Duncan's voice replies. Duncan-good, I had been wondering when he was going to call. Usually he calls exactly a month after the Games end, but then he should have called a week ago.

"Good. How are you?" I say back.

"I'm fine. Just working on some new stuff. I won't bore you with the details." Duncan assures me, and I have to smile at that. I wouldn't understand his medical stuff even if he did try. Prim might be able to follow it better than I could because she's a healer, but both her and our mother are far more familiar with the herbs they use than real medicine.

"Thanks."

"So how's Kennie?" Duncan questions me.

"She's doing good. Right now she's trying to spend as much time outside as she can before school starts in a few weeks. She's with Gale right now." I tell him. I'm actually sort of dreading her going to school because she's going to learn about the Hunger Games more than she already knows from just observing and us trying to not answer her questions. Because I'm certain they will give her answers and I don't really want to deal with the repercussions of that.

"That's great. I can't believe how big she is already." Duncan says.

"Me either." I answer. I can't believe she's already five. When did she grow up so fast? "So what are you doing now?"

"Oh you know, just making lunch." Duncan exclaims.

"Beef sandwich like always?" I ask hopefully. There's a slight pause on the other end before I get a reply.

"Nope, chicken this time. Thought I'd go for a change." Duncan tries to say as casually as he can. All it does is make me freeze. So…not beef? That bastard Snow is trying to screw with us again!

Once Snow told me that I could only have one child ever and offered birth control once a year after Makenna was born, Gale and I decided that we shouldn't really trust him. After all, he had tricked us before with the birth control-neither of us really believed that he would give it to me and that was that after we defied him. So every year after I had the birth control given to me by Dr. Simulus (Dr. Musa had been…taken care of after Snow blamed him for giving me the wrong thing when I switched the syringes), I had Duncan take a sample of my blood to check. Every year he checks it and calls me a month after the Games to get an update on Kennie and I ask him casually what he's having for lunch or dinner. Our code is that beef is birth control and chicken is nothing. Every year it's been beef…until now.

"I've found a way to make it really good. Maybe I'll even send you some to try." Duncan offers, and I relax slightly. He can send me birth control. We can evade Snow's wrath once again.

"I think I'll take you up on that. I'm sure Gale would like it." I agree. He idly chit chats with me for a few minutes before we say our goodbyes, and when I hang up I find Prim staring at me with a suspicious look.

"What?" I say to her.

"What was that about?" Prim questions.

"Nothing. Just talking." I reply innocently, but I can tell she doesn't believe me.

"I'm a big girl and I'm married now. You don't have to protect me anymore." Prim points out. Yes, I can't believe my little duck is married…to Rory. It was probably the strangest thing to think of for Gale and I but I guess it made sense. I mean, they've lived in the same house since we got married after all and they've always been close (but not as close as us). But I can't tell her really what's going on-after all, I'm sure there's cameras and bugs in here somewhere.

"I know. Sorry." I smile sadly at her. "Maybe later okay." Luckily Gale and Makenna chose that moment to walk in the house so I don't have to have this awkward conversation right now.

"Hi Mommy! Hi Aunt Prim!" Kennie says cheerfully.

"Hi sweetie. Did you have a nice time?" I ask her, grateful for her being here. I need that birth control sent to me-I couldn't possibly let anything happen to her, and apparently that was Snow's intention to try this year.

She nods. "Daddy taught me how to tie stuff."

"She's pretty good too." Gale smiles. I'm sure it thrills him to teach Kennie snares just like his father taught him. We've been teaching her snares and archery a few times a week just to start teaching her. She already knows how to climb trees and swim courtesy of Johanna and Finnick (well, that's where she started learning anyway) on Nelia's Victory tour, and Prim and my mother have unknowingly been teaching her plants and herbs when she goes over to 'help' them. I hate that we have to think of this as training, but that's really what it is. "What did you do today?"

"Helped Prim pack. Duncan called too." I say nonchalantly, realizing that Prim is watching me for some indication of what that phone call was about.

"What'd he want?" Gale asks. He knows as well as I do what the call was for but for Prim's sake pretends he doesn't.

"Just checking up on us." I reply, "He's also sending us some chicken." I inform him, looking at him right in the eye. His go wide at first and then I can see him trying to hide his anger from Prim, who is watching our whole exchange with suspicion.

"Well I'm sure it will be good if he's cooking it." Gale finally manages to get out almost casually. Prim clearly knows something is going on with us but chooses not to push it right now thank goodness.

"Well I better get going." Prim finally says, picking up one of the boxes that we packed stuff in. "Want to help me Kennie?" Kennie nods with a smile and grabs one of the smaller boxes, and the two of them go out the door with Kennie excitedly telling Prim about her day. As soon as the door shuts I start walking towards the back door and Gale follows me, knowing it's far safer to talk outside.

Once outside, Gale doesn't take long to let out his anger. "That fucking bastard is trying to fuck us now? What the hell have we done?"

"You have to ask?" I question him. What haven't we done not to make Snow hate us? Aside from Vick we've avoided punishment or angered him at every turn, after all. Gale is still shaking his head and looks like he wants to punch something (probably Snow), and I try to calm him down, gently pressing on his arm.

"Gale, it's fine. Duncan said it will be here next week and we'll be alright." I explain to him.

"We shouldn't have to check in the first place. There shouldn't even be a reason to have Duncan involved but there is." Gale sighs in frustration, but I can tell he's simmering down.

"You don't think I know that?" I point out. "But we do, and the important thing is that we have a way to help it."

He lets out another sigh, shaking his head. "You're right. But that doesn't make it much better." I just shrug at that. Honestly, I can't find it in myself to disagree with him.

Plutarch's POV

"You really think it will work?" I question Horatia in our safe room. She and I have endlessly been trying and failing for years to think of a way to get Seneca Crane fired so one of us can take over as Head Gamemaker for the rebellion. Originally we thought that President Snow would be angry when a District 12 tribute won, but that came to play a few years ago and no such luck.

"I don't see how it can't work honestly." Horatia replies confidently, "President Snow will not look very kindly on Seneca after that." Well, I guess she has a point. I certainly would fire my Head Gamemaker if that happened.

"Alright then let's do it." I agree. "We'll have to run against each other so the others don't catch on. And that we're certain it's one of us."

Horatia sighs, "I know. Some are already suspicious that we're together because we always agree with each other. That has to stop at some point so we might as well start now."

"Alright then." I answer, "Let's figure out some ways to do this then."

Gale's POV

"He's doing pretty well." I whisper to Katniss. We're at the interviews for the 83rd Hunger Games and my tribute Colton, an almost 19 year old who works in the mines already is doing far better than I thought he would at the speaking part. As soon as I saw him I knew he had a fighting chance-Rory (who works in the mines even though I didn't want him to. What need is there when we have all this money) told me he worked with him from time to time and he was a beast, chipping away at coal and never tiring. With a training score of eight that proved his skills pretty well, but he's sort of a silent, distanced guy. But in this interview I told him he could play on that some but he needed to make sure he talked too. And he is-happens to be a pretty nice guy when he opens up like Ceaser apparently is getting him to.

"Yeah he is." Katniss agrees. I look over next to her and see that Makenna is watching the interviews intently and I sigh internally. Ever since she went to school and found out that we were all Victors here and for some reason she knew everyone because she came to the Hunger Games every year, she's wanted to pay more attention. Cecilia had told me that Lucy was stubborn and wanted to learn, but I bet at six even Lucy wasn't this stubborn. Makenna refused to believe that we were just coming here for watching the Games and she decided that she's going to watch this year. I suppose we could try to distract her still but it's pretty hard to do when she's in the heart of the action. Even if we got someone to bring her to the training room or something there are televisions everywhere-you really can't escape it here in the Capitol.

She also started asking questions to not only us, but the tributes this year. And unfortunately they don't protect her from answers like we do. Nelia said she walked in to talk to her tribute (a fifteen year old Seam girl named Sarah) a few days ago and Makenna was already there firing away at the questions. Makenna had told us that she was just going to the restroom during breakfast and instead went to Sarah's room. Sarah apparently looked relieved to see Nelia walk in because Makenna had just asked her where people went to sleep when they lost and she really didn't want to answer it. Luckily Nelia walking in and shooing Makenna out of the room helped but Sarah evidently cried after that because she doesn't think she has a chance.

We asked Makenna what she was doing in Sarah's room and she said, "Well, you and Nelia and Uncle Finn and everyone don't answer my questions so I found someone who would." And then she told us that she wanted to figure it out for herself. Makes me hate Snow a little more that he's given her such a nice seat to find out. Nothing Katniss, Nelia, or I can do can distract her for long all week from watching the televisions or asking more questions.

So here we are on the first day of the Games, and instead of doing the puzzle or reading the books that we brought in small hopes that she would look at them instead of the bloodbath, she's in her own chair looking at the screens in front of her. Katniss and I are fighting with ourselves to cover her eyes with our hands or lock her in a closet (which I'm pretty sure is the only place without a television but I would never put her in a closet) and grip the sides of our chairs instead.

When the bloodbath begins I half watch the screens and half watch Makenna's reaction, knowing that Nelia will be watching both tributes for us so I don't feel as bad. Both of our tributes run for the Cornucopia this year. Colton goes in and grabs a pack and a coal pick (probably a decent advantage seeing as there are a lot of steep cliffs in the arena and he actually knows how to use it from the mines) and runs for the nearest mountain, barely avoiding a spear thrown at him but not missing a knife. Luckily it only hit his upper arm and he grits his teeth as he sprints and pulls it out. I sigh internally at that-well at least he has a knife now. If only he wasn't injured so soon.

I watch Makenna's reactions now and she has a mix of fascination and horror on her face, clearly not trying to hide her own eyes from the bloodbath. When Sarah gets pummeled by one of the Career boys and he plunges his sword into her chest, Makenna winces and I see a tear roll down her face. I think she just realized that the losers don't in fact go to sleep. I really hope she doesn't ask me that question because I don't know if I have the heart to tell her the truth after what she's witnessing now. After what she wanted to see. But I guess she had to learn sometime. And I think grudgingly, it will only help her when Snow reaps her to know some of the inner workings of the Games.

When the bloodbath is mostly over, I think that Makenna is going to start the questions one after the other on what she just saw. But it appears that she's not going to for a while. Instead, she looks at the screen and appears to be thinking on something, or maybe just going over the horrible things she just saw. When she finally looks up she finds that Katniss, Nelia, and I are all watching her, waiting for her to say something. I can't even imagine what's going on in her mind right now.

"I don't like it." Makenna finally says.

"You don't have to watch." Katniss offers hopefully. Almost pleadingly.

Makenna thinks about it for a moment and then shakes her head, "No, I want to know." I actually sigh out loud at that. Great, my too stubborn for her own good daughter still wants to know everything after the most horrible thing she's probably ever witnessed. Makes me almost wish she wasn't so much like Katniss and I sometimes because I suspect we would have been the same.

"Well not much will happen for a while. Do you want to get some lunch with me?" Nelia asks her, and luckily she nods in agreement. But before she gets up, she looks at me.

"Daddy, they don't go to sleep like Sleeping Beauty, do they?" she asks me with an almost calculating look that looks strange on her little face. It makes me almost want to cry to see it, but I don't.

Instead I shake my head slowly. She's going to find out soon anyway. "No sweetie, they don't." With a nod of her head and obviously thinking again, Makenna takes Nelia's hand and they go out of the room. I bury my face in my hands and sigh, Katniss doing the same. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long, hard Games. For us anyway.


	26. Unpredictable

Katniss's POV

It's the fourth day of the Games and Colton is still alive; a miracle in itself it seems. The Gamemakers certainly didn't hold back this year, that's for sure. Though nine died in the bloodbath, only one of the six tributes that have been killed since have been by another tribute's hands and even that had some help from a Gamemaker.

On the first day, one died by a flash flood from one of the rivers, the boy obviously not knowing how to swim. The District 9 girl was chased by a pair of mountain lion mutts off a cliff, dying from the fall. The District 3 pair who had been working together both died on the second day from eating poisoned fruit (apparently only half the normally edible food in the arena is not poisoned this year). Colton almost got into a fight with the burly District 10 boy, but they both were chased by mutant gophers with claws and shark-like teeth. Colton succeeded in escaping with only two small bites on his calf but the District 10 boy tripped and that was that.

The most horrible one in my opinion though is the one that happened this morning. The six Careers were coming back from hunting tributes (with no success) and ran into a sea of mindsquitoes. Mindsquitoes are sort of like tracker jackers in that they were a weapon of the Capitol against the rebels. But instead of making you hallucinate like tracker jackers, mindsquitoes make you forget the last thing you saw before being bitten. For instance, if you were looking at a book in your hand and got bitten, you would literally not know what was in your hand anymore let alone remember that you could read. The Capitol used it on rebel soldiers to make them forget how to use their weapons so essentially they were useless against them in a fight. Your memory would come back eventually (depending on how many times you were bitten and all the different things you forgot) but it's easy to take advantage of the person under a mindsquito's influence.

So once the Careers realized what happened they all ran in the opposite direction, but all of them managed to get bitten at least a few times. The District 4 girl forgot what grass was. The District 2 boy looked at the ax in his hand strangely and studied it curiously. But after about an hour all but the District 1 boy came around, remembering what they forgot again though they didn't remember not knowing what it was in the first place until they saw their bites.

Since the District 1 boy was obviously under more influence than any of them, he seemed like a bumbling fool for another two hours. The District 2 boy got so tired of him asking questions that he killed him on the spot, effectively ending the annoyance. Personally I think it was cheating and horrible because he didn't even make it a fair fight, but I guess this is the Hunger Games-nothing's fair. Besides, at least that's one less Career for Colton to face I think grudgingly.

I'm honestly surprised that the Gamemakers are doing this. I mean sure, they usually kill a tribute or two just to remind people that they can, but the real 'fun' of the Hunger Games is watching the tributes kill each other. The Capitolites can't be too happy with how things are going thus far; too unpredictable to bet on, too boring being that not a ton of blood is being shed because of fights.

At least Makenna, who has religiously been watching from either her chair at our station or at one of the other stations since the Games began hasn't seen too much of people killing each other. Her questions have not let up in the least, but instead of asking Gale or I endlessly she's decided that other Victors will actually give her answers (I think the real reason she visits other stations). To my amusement she's even ventured to District 2's station. Enobaria definitely isn't her biggest fan, but she didn't hold back on the answers to Makenna's questions in the least. She probably thought that it would either scare Makenna off to be so harsh and truthful or just make Gale and I mad that she was telling our six year old all that, but it didn't actually do either. Instead it seemed to make Makenna go to 2's station even more, clearly glad to have someone who would tell her things. And Gale and I weren't actually too mad about it because it annoyed Enobaria more than anyone to have the endless questions firing away at her while she was trying to mentor, and we (childishly) think it's kind of serves her right for being…well, the Wicked Bitch of Panem as Gale calls her. And it's horrible but I'm kind of relieved that I'm not the one answering all those hard questions, so I don't mind too much.

Makenna comes back from whatever station she just invaded around afternoon, and it just so happens to be yet another Gamemaker attack, this time on the District 6 girl who is currently being chased up a tree by mutant fire ants that are easily the size of my big toe. She's not the best climber in the world and the ants take over her soon, biting her and eventually making her lose her balance and fall thirty feet from the tree. Her cannon goes off about fifteen minutes later. Makenna stares at the center screen when the District 6 girl is being taken from the arena by a hovercraft and then looks at me.

"Mommy? The lady over there said that people are supposed to take out other people in this game. Why did the ants take her away or the weird animals take that boy away yesterday?" Kennie asks me with a thinking expression on her face that looks far too old to be on a six year old.

I sigh. I hope all these questions end with the Games, because I think I've had enough for a lifetime. "The people that make the Games do that. They make all those animals and floods and things happen to show people that they can. But no, it isn't normal for all of those to be from them."

"So why are they doing it this year then?" Makenna immediately asks the follow up question. Too bad this is one I'm trying to answer myself.

"I don't know sweetie." I reply, and for once she luckily seems to believe my 'I don't know' because she drops it and goes back to watching the screen. But I wish I did know. Why are the Gamemakers doing this?

"Another Gamemaker subject?" I hear from behind me. I turn in my chair to find Nelia and Carper holding hands and I have to smile. Well, at least they hit it off splendidly. Too bad they can pretty much only see each other once a year and it has to be here.

I nod. "Yeah, fire ant mutts this time."

Carper shakes his head, "I just don't get it. No one does."

"Someone gets it." I point out bitterly. Probably Snow, though I can't figure out what he would do this for other, "It's just not us."

Nelia shrugs at that. "Maybe we're not meant to." Yeah, maybe we aren't. And that's what scares me more than anything. I don't like ambiguous threats or subtle things-I would rather know the score. And unfortunately all the score in this game tells me is that the Gamemakers are winning by choice, not the why. But Nelia accepts that better than I do. Perhaps she has always accepted things for what they are when you can't change it and moves on. All it does is frustrate me.

"Maybe." I finally concede.

"Well we were just going to go swimming and we were wondering if you wanted to join us." Carper states after a pause, changing the subject.

"Well Gale's sleeping so I can't, but Kennie can go if she wants to." I reply. I really hope Kennie does go. I have a feeling she won't since she has adamantly refused to do pretty much anything that takes her away from this room that she's learning all sorts of things I wish she didn't have to but she surprises me.

"I want to go!" Kennie says excitedly and I almost sigh in relief out loud. Thank goodness she's voluntarily getting out of this stupid room. Nelia locks eyes with me and looks almost relieved as well, clearly thinking that Makenna is finally done with her questions.

"Alright. Let's go up to our floor and change first." Nelia replies to her cheerfully.

"Okay." Makenna nods, and then turns to Carper, "You know how to swim really good right?"

"Last time I checked, yeah." Carper replies.

"Did you swim a lot when you played this game?" Makenna questions him, pointing to the screen in front of me.

"…Some." Carper informs, clearly not wanting to remember that. He had only swam in the arena because he was swimming away for his life when the Careers started turning on each other. He only succeeded in getting away because he was the best swimmer, and even then it was just barely.

"Can you teach me what you did? I don't want to swallow water like that boy a few days ago." Kennie asks, and I shake my head. Makenna and her one track mind-this is almost worse than the questions, but at least she wants to learn. I can't imagine how much she'll want to learn if and when she figures out that she's going into the Games…

Gale's POV

A week and a half into the Games and Colton is still thankfully alive. It's strange that he almost appears to not be dealing with the wrath of the Gamemakers like everyone else aside from a few things. One being the mutant gophers from that one day with the District 10 boy, but maybe he just happened to be in the immediate area for that and it was already planned. Or maybe they were just trying to prevent a fight? Well, that doesn't make much sense; it is the Hunger Games after all. Two days ago he got bitten by a few mindsquitoes, but there wasn't anyone within miles to take advantage of that so maybe it was just a coincidence as well. I mean it did happen to be around the same spot as when the Careers found a sea of them days ago, so maybe they were just there from the beginning. He forgot not only what a tree was but I think what his foot was as well by the way he sat down on the ground and studied and poked his shoe for about an hour and a half. It would have been funny if it wasn't so dangerous for him to be so vulnerable in the arena.

So the question is, what if the Gamemakers really aren't targeting him on purpose? Are they trying to choose the winner themselves? Have they chosen Colton to win or are they waiting to pounce on him when he least expects it, giving him no chance at all? Somehow I don't see them choosing Colton to win simply because Snow would not like it. I can't imagine he was too happy with Nelia winning a few years ago, let alone giving 12 another Victor by choice two years later. It just doesn't make any sense. But I guess that's the point-they aren't letting anything make sense in these Games. Maybe I should just stop trying to analyze these crazy mutt obsessed Gamemakers and focus on the boy on the screen in front of me.

With only four tributes left now, Colton is going about the arena more carefully, clearly expecting at any time that the three Careers will jump him and that will be that. Too bad I can't tell him that it's the Gamemakers he should be more worried about-they've killed almost half the tributes already dead this year themselves, which is really strange. What the fuck are they doing? Why? I really can't imagine because I'm sure that the Capitolites don't like it too much and really, that's the point of being entertaining in the Games. Maybe they're trying to remind the Districts that they can kill whoever they want whenever they want? That could be accomplished with two or three, but this is a far greater number than that this year. I just really don't know and it's annoying me to no end.

The three Careers left are in fact hunting him, but luckily they're still miles away and who knows? Maybe the Gamemakers will target them again. While these three did actually kill the District 4 pair yesterday, they were still subjected to a Gamemaker horror today. Three wild dog like things chased them with the pretty obvious intent to separate the three of them but to no avail. The District 1 girl climbed a tree to get away from hers and the District 2 pair took on their dogs head on about ten yards away from the climber, and eventually they managed to kill all three with only a few minor scratches to show for it. But now they are even more ready for blood, and with as much confidence as I have in Colton I can't see him getting too far if and when these three catch him. But who knows? Maybe when they do it will be an all-out battle to the end and one of the Careers is just waiting for the others backs to be turned to turn on them. It's what I would do anyway.

Around midafternoon Colton's luck is up unfortunately. He hears the Careers coming and as soon as one spots him from maybe a quarter mile away he looks around frantically. Running isn't going to be too good of an advantage, not with how fast that District 2 boy is. Swimming in the river near by is an equally stupid idea because he can't swim very well and the other Careers could probably easily get him them. So what does he do? Go up. He starts climbing the rough rock of a cliff maybe thirty yards high, using his pick to help him. He's maybe fourty feet up when the Careers are standing under him.

"What are you doing 12?" the District 1 girl calls up.

"Yeah, come down and fight like a man." yells the District 2 boy. Colton looks down briefly as if he's considering it and then shakes his head.

"Nah I'm good." he calls down almost casually, "I could always wait up here until mutts attack you." Well I guess he has a point. If he can manage to wait up there long enough with the way these Games are going, he might just be alright. But somehow I don't see that happening with the three Careers down at the bottom of that cliff side.

"Well alright then. Guess I'll come up." the District 1 girl says, the one who could climb pretty well earlier. As she starts climbing the District 2 pair look at each other and ready their long range weapons, clearly planning on turning on the District 1 girl now. Ha I knew it! But the District 1 girl keeps climbing and Colton goes higher for a few minutes. But as soon as the District 2 boy is about to throw his spear at his ally, all four tributes stop where they are. They hear just one crack first, then another, and all of a sudden it's like the entire cliff is cracking, falling apart. But before any of them realize and run at what the Gamemakers are obviously doing, there's a rock slide from the top of the cliff and it breaks the cliff too, Colton and the District 1 girl are falling and all four tributes being buried by the tons of rock.

The mentor room is silent, waiting for something to happen. My tablet goes black in about a minute. Guess it's not Colton that's going to win. About thirty seconds later I hear a groan from District 2's station, and then another. So I guess District 1 won? But why isn't Claudius announcing it? Then Cashmere throws her tablet across the room and we all sit there in shock.

"So who won?" I finally ask aloud, apparently the question of the day. Almost immediately all the screens in the Mentor Room go black, and we all sit there in utter surprise as we finally figure out what just happened.

For the first time in history, all twenty four tributes died in the Hunger Games.

There is no Victor.


	27. Reality

Gale's POV

After we all figured out that there wasn't going to be a Victor of the 83rd Hunger Games, people immediately started guessing what was going to happen. Some thought that they wouldn't do anything. Cecilia and Seeder thought optimistically that perhaps next year they would allow two Victors to make up for it, but somehow I find that unlikely. Even in this chaos there's no fucking way that Snow would give that kind of mercy ever. I personally think that next year's Games are only going to be worse. One thing, however, most all of us agree on; something is going to happen to a few Gamemakers to pay for this. After all, it was their decision to kill half the tributes this year by themselves, not only making it a 'boring' Games for the Capitolites but also the cause of having no Victor. I honestly couldn't tell you what they were thinking because they had to have known that there will be consequences from this…if there hasn't been already.

Not knowing what else to do, all of us go up to our floors for the night and wait. The next day a majority of people leave for their respective districts aside from ours and the ones still doing 'appointments.' As there is no Victor, Makenna's party is apparently the hit of the summer now, as many last minute guests were invited (meaning Snow is taking advantage of getting more money since there won't be Victor parties this year) and the mansion is jam packed. Makenna's old enough now to realize that she has to smile for these strange looking people but I don't think she quite knows why they are all celebrating her birthday when she doesn't know any of them. Thank god Finnick is still here though, because he jokes with her and plays little games that make her laugh for the Capitolites, much to their amusement. This also means that he happens to be in half the pictures but we don't mind at all. Aside from Katniss he's the closest friend I have and if people think that then I can't see the bad in it. After all, the Capitolites are probably thrilled that other Victors are hanging out with them (and they get a chance to swoon over him more much to his annoyance).

The next day we left for District 12 with no more answers to what would happen than we knew two days before, and the months fly by as Makenna goes back to school and Katniss and I hunt during that time. When she's out of school sometimes we'll take her back to the woods with us and continue teaching her archery and snares. She's actually not half bad at either but she's certainly not at the level of snares or a bow that Katniss and I are; well, not yet anyway. Though she is slightly better at snares (much to my content though I would never say it to Katniss), probably because she likes to take my twine and tie friendship bracelets with it like Posy taught her so knots are already kind of familiar to her.

Around two weeks before the Victory tour should have been, we get a call from the Capitol-finally some semblance of what is going to happen because there's no Victor. They decided that just because there isn't going to be a Victory tour doesn't mean that the districts are off the hook from their reminder of the Hunger Games and that the Capitol is in charge. So instead, during that time each district will show all their District's Victor's Games in order, one per night for however long it takes. It's nice for the people who work because they get time off, but bad in every other way. For one, three hours less of work means three less hours paid, which in our district means five days because we have had a total of five Victors. It also means that we all have to be subjected to the recaps of Hunger Games every night as a mandatory watching. But somehow I think that will be more horrible for us Victors than the rest of the District because let's be honest; no one really wants to relive their Games.

The first night is the only dead Victor, the winner of the 17th Hunger Games. If I have seen this one before I don't recall it, but I can't imagine I have. Our first Victor, an eighteen year old scrawny Seam boy pretty much won because the two remaining Careers killed each other and he was the only one left. In reality, he probably shouldn't have won-no wonder we didn't have another Victor until Haymitch. He might have been an even worse mentor than him, and that's saying something.

The second night is another one I'm sure I've never seen, as this one is Haymitch's. It's sort of strange that I've never seen it though because it's the second Quarter Quell; you would think that the Capitol would constantly play one of the Games that had maximum horror, what with it having double the tributes. I can definitely tell that Haymitch is not looking forward to this though he is required to be in the special roped off area in the square for Victors. He takes this opportunity to be full on wasted, clearly not wanting to remember this. But I watch with a sort of interest, because I truly don't know how Haymitch won and I'm rather curious.

It starts off with the reaping, and the overwhelming number of children is maddening. When they get to twelve I'm surprised to see that Haymitch was actually sort of a good looking if not cocky (what a surprise) kid, but the real surprise is one of the girls who looks exactly like Madge. Katniss leans over and tells me that Madge told her that she was her aunt, and she wears the same Mockingjay pin that Madge gave Katniss before her Games. The games go on and I take on an almost as fascinated expression as what Kennie has plastered on her face. As the Games go on I'm pretty sure I figure out why these Games are never shown-Haymitch used the Capitol's force field against them and used it to win. That's why they killed his family I'd bet-I can't imagine Snow liking that any more than me successfully getting Katniss out of appointments, probably even more so because Haymitch made the Capitol look stupid-I just defied him in a more private way. Makes me respect Haymitch a little more.

The next night is one I'm definitely not looking forward to-my own Games. What makes it worse is that Makenna is going to see it…see me kill people, see me get bite by that mutt, see everything. I can't possibly imagine what she's going to think of me after that, even if she knows by now that to win you have to kill and that both Katniss and I won. Makes me almost want to get drunk like Haymitch did yesterday-almost. But I haven't started when I was far more stressed, and I'm not going to start now. So I suck it up and try not to look at Makenna's reactions the whole recap, even if that makes me a coward.

On the walk home after the horrible recap (it's seriously like seeing you're nightmares except you can't wake up from them) the three of us along with Nelia and Haymitch walk home to Victor's Village. I finally work up the courage to ask Makenna what she's thinking, because by her expression I really can't tell.

"So what did you think?" I finally croak out. She looks up at me with her big grey eyes for a moment and then shrugs.

"It's not as scary the second time." she replies.

"Second time?" I ask, my confusion overtaking my hatred for making her think I'm a little scary taking a backseat for the moment. "When have you seen that before?"

"Haymitch showed me you and Mommy's tapes when he took me up to my room in the pretty colored place." Kennie replies, pointing to Haymitch.

"…you did what?" I turn to Haymitch, angry and astonished though I probably shouldn't be; this is Haymitch after all.

Haymitch waves it off with his bottle sloshing around, "Squirt asked and I figured you two'd never show er."

"And you didn't tell us because…" Katniss asks, angry as well.

"Oh calm yerself down sweetheart, it's no big deal." Haymitch waves it off, but Katniss's glare doesn't let up, clearly waiting for an answer. "Never came up."

"You never showed us yours." I point out. Though I guess we never asked that either but that's beside the point.

"Well whatever." Haymitch replies gruffly and goes into his house. I shake my head at him but it's too late to take it back now. Makenna's already seen my Games twice and I still don't exactly know what she thinks of it. But for once she's relatively quiet as she gets ready for bed. When I can't stand it anymore I tell Katniss that I'm going to tuck her in and she understands what I'm really doing.

I walk into Makenna's room and find her dressed in a nightgown and putting her doll to bed. "You ready for bed?" I ask her quietly, and she turns to look at me and nods, walking over to her bed and pulling away the comforter. Once she's in it I carefully pull up the cover to her shoulders, her looking at me the whole time. Finally I can't stand it anymore.

"Alright I know you want to say something." I sigh, "What did you really think?"

Kennie pauses for a moment, thinking. "I didn't like seeing you get hurt or anything."

All I can do is nod in response for a minute. If she's really scared of me she probably wouldn't outright say it, no matter how bold she may be. "It wasn't fun. None of it is."

"Then why do we have to go all the time?" Kennie questions me, and I frown.

"Because we have to." I reply, "Winning isn't very fun all the time either."

"Then why did you want to win?" asks Kennie, and to be honest I don't know if she's asking me whether it's better to lose or if she's just generally curious. She knows by now that the losers die but I don't think she realizes that winning is almost worse despite being around Victors her whole life. So I decide to answer the other probably reason she's asking, because it's not only true as well but it's far easier for me to choke out to my six year old.

"Because I wanted to come home to Mommy and Grandma and everyone. Before that we lived by the people who work with the coal and it was very hard. I wanted to make things better for them and I knew that winning meant living in a big house like this." I answer slowly.

"Are you happy that you won then?" Makenna questions me after a minute. I caress her little cheek and brush her hair out of her eyes while I think about that. Am I happy? I suppose I am aside from all this Snow shit. What would have happened had I lost? Well for starters, my family would still be in the Seam and would have lost me, who provided them pretty much single-handedly. Sure Katniss and I had that deal and I know she would have taken care of them to the best of her ability, but taking care of six other people and yourself is still a handful. But would Vick still have been alive? I think he probably would have but you never know. Katniss still would have gone into the Games for Prim the next year regardless of me winning or not. I have faith that she still would have won but it probably would have been under very different pretenses. For instance, maybe Peeta could have actually pulled off his star-crossed lovers thing (even though I don't realistically believe that Katniss would have gone along with it even then). It could have been very different.

But then I think of all the things that I wouldn't have had it not been for winning. I wouldn't have Katniss for one-I would have died without kissing her or falling asleep next to her every night. I wouldn't have all my friends that are Victors that I never would have thought before that I would be friends with, like Finnick or Johanna or Duncan. My family's safe and don't have to worry about anything. And most of all, I would never have the little girl in front of me who I love more than anything. "Yeah, it was worth it." I finally concede to her, and lean over to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight Kennie."

I get up from where I am on the edge of her bed and go to turn off the lights. But when my hand is on the light switch I'm stopped by a voice.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm?" I turn to look at her.

"I'm happy you won too." Kennie states, and I have to smile at that.

"Sweet dreams Kennie." I say, and finally switch the lights off.

In the beginning of spring air I'm hesitant to leave so quickly, despite the sun already making its descent to let the moon rise. It's partly because I just love the woods, but mostly because the mayor is going to have to turn on the electricity again soon and I have to get back before that happens. I'm also not really looking forward to the mandatory broadcast from the Capitol tonight.

When we heard about it yesterday, all Katniss and I could come up with was that it was something about having no Victor at last year's Hunger Games. I mean they already did the whole watch your district's Victors' Games instead of a Victory tour, but that doesn't mean that's that. Maybe they are going to introduce the new Head Gamemaker or something-I can't imagine that Seneca Crane wasn't fired after that disaster, and probably a few more with him. Guess the Gamemakers got too power happy for their own good at last year's Games, what with them almost completely controlling it and now they are probably paying the price. I can't imagine that Snow is going to announce that there will be allowed two Victors this year, even though Cecilia has constantly kept with that theory this whole time. You know for a Victor she's pretty optimistic. I would say naïve, but let's be honest; you can't win the Games and come out naïve, even if you were beforehand. I say that there's no way in hell Snow will allow that even if that sounds pessimistic. Honestly, I prefer to call it reality.

I grudgingly make my way back home with that in mind and once I open the door I'm immediately hit with the smell of rabbit stew. While we can afford butchers meat now and Nelia usually tries to bring it to us for free most of the time, we still like fresh game the best; old habits die hard I guess. It's about an hour before the mandatory broadcast so the three of us eat in a comfortable silence before going over to the couch, bringing over mugs of tea to drink. I find that I can't sit still though so I end up standing and pacing behind the couch where Katniss and Makenna are relaxing, and we watch Ceaser with his bright yellow hair and eyebrows come on our television screen.

First he introduces the new Head Gamemaker (what a surprise), a woman with almost natural looking red hair that he calls Horatia Beaukins. Studying her, I think I vaguely recognize her as the woman who came up with an alternative to plastic surgery for Katniss all those years ago even though she looks a lot different now. Of course in the Capitol that's no surprise where they change their selves with all their ridiculous fashions. She seems confident in her abilities and she's excited for the next Hunger Games to begin as the Head Gamemaker. I do notice that she gives no indication that there will be two Victors or even mention that there was no Victor last year, but perhaps they are waiting for Snow to come on to address that.

It seems that I'm right about that one. The new Head goes off stage with Ceaser to applause and Snow comes on, basking in the cheering for him from the Capitolites (for which I can't help but roll my eyes at). He waits for the crowd to quiet down before speaking.

"What a wonderful night it is, to have all you lovely people here tonight to celebrate our Hunger Games, a time honored tradition for the past eighty three years." Snow begins, and there is more cheering. "Now as you all know, we were unfortunate last year to produce no Victor."

The crowd hushes, some still clearly not happy about that last one. "To make up for that, we have looked through the rulebooks and found that the founders of the Hunger Games did indeed think about if this tragedy did occur sometime in the future so we have a special announcement!" Snow continues to the sound of applause. Really, they thought of this? Though I can't honestly say that Snow thinks of having no Victor as a tragedy other than the fact that he has one less person to control and manipulate people with.

To my confusion, a little girl in a white dress comes out with a wooden box and stands next to Snow, reminding me much of the Quarter Quell card reading years ago. What the fuck is this?

"And so Panem, the rulebook claims that in the instance of no Victor, the following year will be a reading of the next Quarter Quell card no matter if it is the right year or not." Snow informs. Oh god, another Quarter Quell twist so soon? What horror do we have to deal with this year for our poor tributes?

Snow pulls out the front card with a flourish, and the black one hundred on it stands out against the yellowed envelope. The hundredth anniversary of the Hunger Games card? This one has to be extra horrible, though I can't even fathom what horror they could come up with that could be worse than the three previous Quarter Quells.

Snow reveals the card after putting on his reading glasses, and I can see a slight smirk on his face."On the one hundredth anniversary of the Hunger Games but now the 84th Games, to remind the rebels that rebellion affects not only the weakest but the strongest, this year's tributes will have one tribute between the ages of six and eleven, and one tribute reaped from each district's pool of Victors of opposite sex. The Victor from the odd districts will be female and the even vice versa."

At the reading all I can do is freeze and I end up dropping the mug in my hands, it shattering to pieces on the floor-the only sound in the room at the moment as we absorb and understand what this means. I look down at my daughter sitting on the couch in horror. District 12 will have a male Victor (which means me or Haymitch) and a female child. When reality comes crashing down on me, I know that Snow planned this, that this couldn't possibly have been a written rule eighty four years ago. It's too perfect.

Makenna's going into the Games.

And so am I.


	28. Resolved

Gale's POV

After the announcement, I know that there is still commotion going on onstage through the television but I don't hear it or even see it though I'm still staring right at it in horror. In fact, the whole room is silent, all of us staying frozen in our places (well Katniss and I are, I don't know what Makenna's doing) for a long time, even after the program is over. All I can think is going back to that horrible time when we knew that a family member was dying and we thought for sure it was Posy instead of Vick. I remember thinking, who would punish people by killing a six year old girl? Snow would-of course he would. And now I have my own six year old he's trying to kill… I hope it reveals him to the world as the fucking evil bastard he is.

Eventually Katniss croaks out "Time for bed." and Kennie gets up with a curious look to both of us before going quietly upstairs.

Katniss still doesn't move from her seat; she can't even bring herself to look at me or do anything else but stare at the now black television. When it becomes clear that she's not going to for a time I force myself to put one foot in front of the other and slowly walk around the couch before kneeling in front of her. She's got her eyes closed but I know she can sense me, as she starts slowly shaking her head. I take a deep breath and go to take her hand in mine, but as soon as I make contact she finally breaks down, tears rolling down her face as I let go of her hand and hold her tight to me for a while, rubbing her back soothingly. Eventually I find the courage to say something, anything. The most important thing really.

"She's going to be the Victor." I state in a low voice, but with all the confidence I have.

With a start she looks up at me, clearly angry and upset at the same time, "You don't know that. You can't count on-" But I cut her off.

"I do know that. I'm going to make damn sure she is at any cost because I'm going in with her." I force out, resolved in my decision. I have a one in two shot of being reaped anyway, but if it's Haymitch I'm going to volunteer. Like hell I'm going to let Makenna die if I can prevent it, even if it means that I die for her. I can't imagine a more important thing to die for.

Katniss clearly doesn't like the idea, as she roughly shoves at my chest where her tears were just falling. "That's your brilliant solution? You die with her?" she hisses at me.

"She's not dying Katniss." I say with steely resolve.

She shakes her head at me, "Gale…"

"Katniss I don't care. I'll either be reaped or I'll volunteer, but she will make it out of those Games alive." I cut her off, even though I know she hates what I'm really saying. Even though it's probably what Snow wants other than Makenna's, but if he's going to give me a chance to prevent that then I'll take it.

"Gale, I'm not letting you volunteer!" Katniss cries.

I shake my head and go for logic to get to her. "Katniss, do you really think Haymitch will get her out?"

"He might. He hates life anyway." Katniss claims. I almost snort even though it's kind of true. That wasn't my point though. Haymitch may be crazy smart, but he's a fifty year old drunk who probably hasn't used a weapon in thirty years, whereas I'm in my late twenties, fit, and it's my daughter as my motivation. I have a way better shot at pulling it off than Haymitch does.

"That's not the point. I'm the best chance and I'm taking it." I argue back.

"Gale…I can't…I-" Katniss tries to choke out but ends up crying again. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs and sigh.

"Please. I couldn't live with myself if she died because I didn't prevent it." I almost plead to her as she still shakes her head silently at me.

"Promise me you won't volunteer." Katniss finally says. I guess she doesn't want me to choose to die and take my chances. But she's missing one important detail…

"Katniss, Snow may be rigging it so I go in anyway." I exclaim, because it very well may be true.

"There are still volunteers." Katniss points out. This time I do snort and roll my eyes. The very thought of Haymitch volunteering for me is ridiculous and she knows it. But even then she's still resolved. "Gale, he might do it." She says with steely force, eyes piercing into me even through her watery eyes.

"I'd like to see you try to convince him." I mutter, just barely avoiding rolling my eyes.

"I will. But even if I don't I want you to promise me that you won't volunteer." Katniss says, and when I hesitate she begs in a low, shaky voice, "Please."

I sigh, giving in. "Alright, I won't volunteer."

She studies me for a moment as if she's trying to figure out if I'm lying, but she won't find anything and doesn't. Once she's satisfied she gives me a soft kiss and tells me that she's going to put Makenna to bed. I tell her I'll be a while. She goes upstairs and I clean up the broken mug, waiting for her to give up on me coming up and just go to bed herself. Maybe a half hour later she does, and I wait an extra fifteen minutes just to be sure before quietly slipping out the door.

On the short walk to Haymitch's house in the somewhat chilly spring night air, I can't stop the slight smirk on my face. I may have promised that I won't volunteer and I won't break that promise. But there are other ways that I can make sure that I go into the Games to protect Makenna…

I walk right on into Haymitch's disgusting smelling house and find him still up, drinking away as usual. When he sees me leaning in the doorway he studies me for a moment, taking a swig of his drink before gruffly asking, "So ya here to…what? Beg me to go in with Squirt?"

"Just the opposite actually." I exclaim, walking over to the table, "I want to go in with her."

Haymitch looks at me briefly and then snorts, "So what? Ya came over just to tell me that you'll volunteer for me if I get picked? How sweet."

"I can't volunteer. Katniss made me promise not to." I inform him with a hint of annoyance.

"So what do you suggest?" Haymitch questions me, one eyebrow raised.

"Katniss is going to ask you to volunteer for me if I get picked, but I don't want that." I explain, pausing enough for him to nod his head as if he expected that, "But if you volunteer or you get picked, that means I can't go in with her."

"Ah, so you want me to rig the reaping." Haymitch asks, and I nod. Really, it's the only way to guarantee. Katniss might get pissed at Haymitch for not volunteering but she is asking him to die for Makenna after all. I'm willing to-I don't expect Haymitch to be and a majority of people wouldn't.

"Exactly." I declare. He studies me for a minute and then takes another swig of his drink before holding the bottle up to me.

"You're a good kid." Haymitch claims, "I'll make sure that only your name is in that reaping bowl, I promise. I don't give a shit how mad sweetheart is at me."

I nod, glad that Haymitch is going to give me what I want for once. "Thank you." I say before leaving.

The next day Katniss goes over to Haymitch's herself to basically beg him to go into the Games while I walk Kennie to school. When I come back I'm surprised to find her not angry or upset but almost smug.

"Haymitch might do it." She informs me, and my eyebrows shoot up in actually surprise while I hide my inner confusion and anger.

"He…what? How?" I question her, half impressed that she actually convinced him and half pissed at him for saying yes when he promised that I could go into the Games.

"It took a while but he finally said he'd think about it." Katniss says with a small smirk.

"That's not a yes." I shake my head, frustrated with Haymitch. What the fuck happened to letting me go into the Games? I think it's time for another little talk with him.

"But it's not a no." she fights back immediately. "Come on, let's go set up." Katniss changes the subject, and I sigh and nod in agreement. Earlier this morning we decided that we're going to increase the amount of time that Kennie learns all our skills (even if I'm still going in with her it can only help for her to know), so we decided to set up a sort of target practice and a knot tying competition for her after school in the woods. She probably hasn't figured out that she's going to be reaped yet, but that doesn't matter too much. I'd rather not have her worry incessantly for the next few months like we will anyway.

The next morning when Katniss brings Kennie to school I decide that I'm going to pay a little visit to that traitor Haymitch. I find him asleep on the table like usual with a bottle loosely in one hand and the other hidden under the table undoubtedly clutching a knife. Normally I would wake him by the alarm clock that I've left in the kitchen for years, but today I'm too pissed for that so I decide to give him a hard shove sideways that sends him flailing to the ground, the bottle spilling on and off the table.

"What the hell?" I hear Haymitch grumble as he picks himself up, ready to fight.

"What the fuck?" I start out, "You told her you might?"

"She wouldn't leave me alone and kept going on and on." Haymitch argues, "I said might to shut er up."

"But you're not going to do it." I order almost forcefully.

Haymitch rolls his eyes at me, "Of course not. She can hate me all she wants when I don't because we're rigging it but for now it will make her less annoying."

"Yeah for now." I concede. "Do you really want to deal with it after you don't?" He really doesn't know how pissed she's going to be. And who knows? She might guess that I was resolved to go in and I planned this with him, which of course I did. But I'll be the one going into the arena; Haymitch can't escape her wrath for long. Does he even plan ahead when it comes to people leaving him be?

"Trust me kid, I can handle er." Haymitch assures me, taking another full bottle out of his stash. "Wouldn't be the first time I had to deal with a difficult woman."

"If you say so." I reply, unconvinced. Really? Maybe he's talking about his dead mother or something, because I know all the girls he associates with; mostly Victors or people from the Hob. But I really doubt he's ready to deal with a Katniss who has her daughter and husband in the Hunger Games…

For the next two months Katniss and I go on a teaching spree with Kennie, trying to squeeze in everything we can in the limited time we have. Luckily I can get away with training myself because our families are worried about me with my fifty/fifty chance of being reaped so Katniss can't get too mad about it. We don't tell them about Makenna more likely than not being reaped and they luckily don't ask. Oh sure they're worried about her, but her name is one in hundreds. It's Posy they're relieved for because this would have been in the reaping at the age of fourteen so she has a year respite. If they only knew that if Snow wanted her reaped then she would be reaped. Maybe they'll figure it out when Makenna's name is drawn that this was no accident. One thing's for sure though-we're not going to tell them that. Not after we've kept them in the dark with all things Snow all these years.

Three weeks before the reaping Katniss, Makenna and I are sitting down at the table after dinner, Kennie doing her homework for school and the two of us drinking tea and helping Makenna when she asks when there's a pounding on the door before it's thrown open and we see a distressed Rory come in.

"What is it?" I question him, taking in his tense posture and knowing this can't be good. Is Prim hurt or something?

"Haymitch is dead." he spits out in a low voice and I freeze. Dead? Haymitch can't be dead, he's….well he can't be dead!

"…what? Are you sure?" Katniss questions him in horror. Rory nods.

"Yeah, Prim and you're mom are in his house now." Rory states solemnly. I don't really know why he's so sad since he never really liked Haymitch too much, but perhaps it's simply because someone he knew died. Katniss and I look at each other and stand up, ready to go see for ourselves. Rory says he'll stay with Kennie and I finally look at her, seeing how she's taking this. She seems to be trying to wrap her head around it, but I can tell that her homework is long forgotten. Sighing that she has to go through this so close to the reaping, Katniss and I walk out the door and quickly go to Haymitch's house, walking right in.

We find Prim and their mother in the kitchen talking, Haymitch's body hunched over on the table like so many times before.

"Are you sure?" I question them. Did they even try to wake him up? This could just be a big misunderstanding because really, you have to go to pretty extreme measures to get Haymitch up and out of his drunken sleep state sometimes. A nice hard shove like I did a few months ago would probably do the trick.

Mrs. Everdeen nods with a sad expression. "Yes. I checked his pulse and it's not there."

"Why were you here in the first place?" Katniss asks. Guess that's a good question; it's not like these two regularly come over here.

"I was bringing over medicine for him that mother prescribed a few years ago and found him like this so I checked his pulse before getting mother to make sure." Prim tells us.

"Medicine?" Katniss questions, clearly as confused as I am. Katniss's mother nods.

"Yes, for his liver. Being the alcoholic he was there was no telling how long he would live without some help." she explains before sighing, "But I have a feeling he didn't take it as often as he should have."

"You can't be sure of that mother. There wasn't any sign of a liver burst on his stomach." Prim argues back before trying to hold back her tears and strangely hugging me.

"I'm sorry Gale. We tried to make sure he could take your place." she says before crushing herself briefly to me. Take my place? What…oh; the Games. Now I'm the only choice for the Victor being reaped. I mean it's what I wanted anyway but they don't know that. I look at Katniss and I find her studying me with a cold calculating look before it turns accusing.

Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me I think, giving her that expression but I don't think she quite believes me all the way. She thinks that I killed Haymitch so I would have no choice but to go in to protect Makenna? That may have been the plan all along for me to go in, but this is ridiculous. I would never have gone so far as to kill Haymitch to do it. Hell, if I wanted him killed I would have gladly let him go into the Games-can't she see that? I mean yes, Haymitch was going to make sure that my name was the only name in that reaping bowl, but somehow I can't see that dying was his way of doing it. Not even Haymitch would have gone that far to resolve the situation.


	29. Vital

Katniss's POV

As I lie awake in bed like I've been all night, all I can think of is that I wish the sun won't rise today. But of course it does-it always does. And as the last shades of grey fade and the sky outside the window gets gradually brighter, I know that the most horrible day in my entire life thus far has come-Reaping Day of the 84th Hunger Games. Ten years ago on Reaping Day Prim was reaped and I volunteered. Ten years ago I couldn't have possibly seen where I would be on this day-knowing for certain that Gale and our daughter are going to be reaped.

It seems appropriate almost in a way that Snow would find a way to make my worst nightmare become a reality after I finally gave into everything ten years ago that I said I would never have. In fact, he made it worse. I was always worried that my children would be reaped and I know he's going to do that. But the twist of taking Gale away from me too just adds an extra horror to the whole thing that I didn't even think about. Surely to think of something so cruel Snow has been to the deepest circle of hell. And honestly, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he had.

When I can see the first rays of sunshine through the window I sigh heavily and know that the nightmare has begun. I study Gale's sleeping face for a while, not wanting to wake him up just yet. We may both get nightmares but I know that I'd only be waking him up to an even worse one because it's real. As I study it I tentatively touch his features with a feather light touch, before coming to his lips and tracing them. When I do he wakes up and groggily opens his eyes, staring at me with such a heavy expression that I wish I could kiss away but I'm sure that mine mirrors his so I can't find it in myself to do anything but stare right back.

My fingertips are still resting on his lips though, and he softly kisses them before taking my hand in his before pressing his lips gently to my palm. The sweet simple gesture makes me want to cry but I can't. If I start crying now then I won't be able to stop and I can't have that. Kennie still doesn't know that she's going to be reaped and if I'm crying and looking at her she's going to figure it out. I know it seems silly seeing that she'll know in a matter of hours but I want to keep her as innocent and unworried as possible for as long as I can. She doesn't deserve any of this.

Then I realize that it doesn't really matter to Snow if she deserves it or not, because it's going to happen anyway. It makes me hate him a little more and I didn't think that was even possible. But I have to keep it together. It's so vital for me to at least appear strong when he's watching because he can't see that this is going to break me even if it is. I can't let him think he's won this game.

With that in mind, I sigh as I take my hand back and force myself to get out of bed to begin this living nightmare.

Nelia's POV

It's the day of the reaping-luckily so because the miners have the day off. Normally I wouldn't care about that at all, but for today (and the near future) it's vital. And as I study the couple in front of me with the mayor by my side, I think that they are just the right people to pull this off. Being the siblings of two married Victors probably make them overshadowed, but people in the district still know who they are. People in 12 will still follow them when the time is right, because only that will save their lives.

"Let me ask you a question." the mayor begins, "Do you hate the Capitol?"

"Yes." the brother, Rory, states right away. Good, he doesn't even need to think about it. Positivity is always helpful in these kinds of things.

"And you Prim?" I ask. She thinks for a moment. As a healer, I can tell she's the kind of person who hates death and destruction of any kind. She wants to love, not hate. But surely the half of it she knows about the Capitol is enough to make her go along with this.

"I don't like what they did to my sister or Gale. I don't like that little Kennie has to go there every year." Prim starts, and I think she's trying to warm herself up to the idea of actually hating something, even if she has every right to. "So I guess I…sort of do."

Well I think that's as close of a confession we're going to get from her so I'll take it. "Good. Are you interested in helping with saving lives?"

"Of course." Prim answers immediately. It's Rory who hesitates this time, though by his expression I think he's trying to figure out what on earth they're doing here in an abandoned Seam house hidden cellar with me and the mayor.

"What do they need saving from?" he questions us.

"The Capitol of course." the mayor replies. "You do recall the mandatory broadcasting a few months ago where the reaping was changed, correct?" The both nod, but it's Rory who answers.

"Yes. It's going to be my brother as the Victor and a girl between the ages of six and eleven." He answers almost angrily.

"Exactly. And do you know who the child will be?" I ask. I don't really want to tell them but it's sort of half the point of this meeting.

"No one knows that." Prim shakes her head.

"We do." I answer, "You're brother and sister know. Snow knows."

"How could Snow-" Prim starts, but Rory cuts her off.

"Makenna." Rory states, and the mayor and I both nod, "But why?"

"I don't have a lot of time to explain but he will tell you everything you need to know after the reaping." I reply, nodding to the mayor. I really do need to get back to Victor's Village to change before I have to be on that stupid stage and so does the mayor. "But all you need to know now is that there's a rebel force, and we're going to get them out of that arena."

"You're part will come in when that breakout occurs." The mayor explains. "We have a feeling that the Capitol is going to retaliate, punish the district for those actions. If you can lead as many people away as possible before they are harmed it would help immensely."

"So…the rebellion is real? We're really going to change things?" Rory questions almost excitedly.

"Yes, it is." I answer. "Now I really do have to get back, but there's one last thing I need you to do." I take a necklace out of my pocket that Cinna sent me a few weeks ago for this purpose and hand it to Prim. Both of them study the gold bird on it with a fiery gem dangling off of it.

"This is a phoenix." Rory states, "I had heard it was the symbol of the rebellion at work but I haven't seen one not on a cracker."

"Yes it is." I agree.

"What do you want us to do with it?" Prim asks, her fingers gliding along the delicate features of the bird.

"Give it to Kennie as her token." I reply, "I promise it's important."

When Rory figures out what this may mean, his eyes go wide, "So you mean…she's…"

"A part of it." The mayor informs, "But she doesn't know and neither do Katniss or Gale, and we'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible."

"Why? I know my brother would be as on board as I am with this if he knew. Maybe even more." Rory questions confusedly.

The mayor and I give each other a knowing, almost awkward look before he answers solemnly, "Because if we can't get all of them out, they will be a lot safer the less they know."

"You're not going to get all three of them out?" Prim almost squeaks.

I sigh, "We're going to try, but we can't control everything. A lot of this depends on District 13 too."

"District 13?" Rory asks with an almost shell shocked expression.

"I'll explain everything later." The mayor sighs, "Come on, we must get back before anyone notices our absence."

With that I get up and I'm the first to leave. I'm glad that they (or at least Rory) are going to help out in the district. Now I can focus on my part and District 13 can focus on theirs.

Gale's POV

I can already tell this is going to be the worst reaping ever. Even already knowing who the tributes will be doesn't help. Of course that could be because it's me and Kennie, but still. I almost half wish I didn't know because the last few months would have been a lot more peaceful. But the other half of me, the more potent part, is glad I knew because I don't like being taken by surprise.

When we walk towards the square for the reaping like every year with Nelia, our mothers, and Posy (Rory and Prim live in the District in their own house now so they'll meet us there), it's silent the whole way, and it's certainly not a comfortable one. Our families know that I'm going into the Games as there is no other option now, what with Haymitch dead and gone. I know Katniss would probably outright say it, but I think she's secretly cursing Haymitch for being dead. It sounds ridiculous, but really Haymitch was her only hope that I wouldn't be reaped too even if that was going to happen anyway, regardless of Haymitch being dead or alive. But nothing can change that now, so here I am walking to my own slaughter pin.

When we separate, our families going towards the crowd, Katniss and Nelia going to the Justice Building and Kennie and I going to sign in, I realize that for the first time in ten years I'm not going to be on that stage in the Victor line behind the mayor. It's going to seem really strange even if I know I'll be up there with them soon.

I help Kennie sign in and lead her to the six year old section (she's almost seven but her birthday is actually during the Games this year) and give her a hug and a kiss on her forehead. She looks a little scared but that's perfectly understandable. I would be scared too if I was her age. Hell, I am scared shitless but it's more Kennie that I'm worried about than myself. I've been reaped before and I know I'm being reaped again; she doesn't have a clue. After that I walk to my own roped off area. As I stand in there alone I look to my right and find the contrast ridiculous and almost frightening. It's me alone in this pin, at twenty eight years old and clearing six feet next to pins of tiny little girls. Even knowing that it's going to be a child and me for months, the contrast now makes it real. Looking at them…I know I won't be able to kill a child. It's too horrible. How can anyone do that?

Luckily I don't have time to think about all the people that I'm sure can and will, because the mayor, Effie, Katniss and Nelia are coming on stage. The whole time the mayor is doing his speech I'm watching Katniss, who I can tell is trying to put on a steel mask as she glances between me and Kennie, who's in the furthest away section from the stage. She does a pretty good job of not showing emotion until Effie states that it's 'ladies first' like every year, and we both hold our breath. We already know what the name is-hell, it's probably on every slip of paper in that damn bowl. But actually hearing it out loud is going to be so much worse.

Effie brings the slip back to the microphone with a smile and opens the slip with a flourish. I find myself almost happy to say that her smile falters when she looks at the name, as it tells me that she's clearly not wanting to say it. That means she doesn't like it and I bet the other Capitolites won't either. But sadly it only confirms our suspicions as well. Effie composing herself after a brief moment and her saying the name out loud hurts like hell.

"Makenna Hawthorne." She rings, and the crowd is silent. For a minute you could probably hear a cricket chirp in our district before the distressed and angry murmurings begin. Everyone knows exactly what this means now, what I've known for months. But do they know that this was a set up? How could anyone possibly guess otherwise? And that's when I realize something…what if Snow killed Haymitch so that this had to happen? I really wouldn't put it past him and Mrs. Everdeen didn't find any telltale liver damage. Makes me hate Snow even more and I didn't think that was possible.

Kennie is frozen for a minute but then she begins to walk towards the stage, trying not to cry. When she gets up on the stage and I see a tear begin to fall, I can't stand here anymore. I'm going to be called anyway and I really don't give a shit if I shouldn't go on that stage yet. So I do. I jump the rope and half run towards the stage, crushing Makenna to me while I glare at the cameras, daring anyone at all to even try to make me move. Luckily no one does-not even the peacekeepers. Effie takes this as her cue to just get it over with and takes the one slip out from the other bowl and quickly saying my name.

Before the mayor can even say his speech or Effie can say that we are both the tributes, every last person in the crowd does District 12's salute. I whisper to Makenna and she nods into my chest before pulling out, and we do it back to the crowd. Honestly, I'm waiting for someone to stop this, move on with the reaping. But as I look to the mayor who should be the one trying to get this thing going, I'm surprised to say that even he is doing the salute. I'm overwhelmed with emotion right now and barely keep it together. But I know that we have to move on with this stupid thing so we can just go (even if I do love the full on rebellious nature of the entire district that is now being shown), so I nod for him to continue.

With a sigh and a small nod in agreement he does, doing his second speech to a silent, defiant crowd. But he doesn't seem to mind-in fact; he almost seems to like it. Why though? I mean sure he did the salute too, but surely he knows that it was vital for him to keep the district under control and he's clearly condoning their rebellious nature instead. This can't be good for him at all but he doesn't seem to care. Perhaps he feels that he's already lost his child so he doesn't have much to lose. That's a very dangerous thing to have-like me going into the Games. As long as I keep Makenna alive I don't care what I do. Hell, I'll probably give the Capitol a piece of my mind when we're the last two standing. It will definitely satisfy me that my last words are ranting at the Capitol for all to hear.

When the mayor finishes his speech he turns to us and tells us to do the traditional handshake, though it's clear that he really doesn't expect that a handshake is what he's going to get. The handshake stands for the tributes recognizing and accepting each other as competitiors, and like hell that's going to happen. There's no possible way I will ever say or show that Kennie is my competitor, because she's not. I'm her father, her protector. And that's just what I plan on being, and I really doubt anyone in Panem will guess that I would do otherwise. So instead, I pick Kennie up and rest her on my hip even though she's a little old for that and kiss her cheek before glaring at the cameras again in satisfaction. I'm going to make Snow regret the day he ever thought it was a good idea to put the two of us in the Games together.


	30. Difficulty

Rory's POV

Well shit, they weren't lying after all. I've got to admit even earlier with the necklace and the strange bunker, I only half believed them. But they knew that Kennie would be reaped, and they were right. Gale and Katniss didn't seem too surprised by it, just wanting to comfort her really. And if they were right about that, then they were right about the rebellion too. I can honestly say that I can't wait to talk to the mayor later now. As soon as possible would be great.

But first thing's first-go say goodbye to Gale and Kennie. For Kennie we have to give her that necklace (which I suspect is going to be a sign to the rebels that change is coming) and for Gale…to say goodbye. If I know my brother at all (which I do), he's not planning on coming back. It's horrible and I wish it wasn't true, but honestly if I was in his position I would do the same so I can't get too mad at him. In fact, I'm proud in a sort of way. And if they can somehow pull off this breakout then I won't have to worry about that goodbye being our last.

As all of us go towards the Justice Building through the crowd going the opposite direction, I stop a few feet from the door when I see Nelia there, obviously waiting for us. She lets the others pass but pulls me aside. I nod to Prim to go ahead and she does while Nelia takes me another few feet away.

"They took the mayor. I don't know what's going to happen to him or anything but he won't be able to talk to you." Nelia whispers.

Damn it, how are we supposed to figure out everything now? Not that it surprises me really that they took him-after all; he was clearly condoning a rebellious district when he should have been stopping it or at least ignoring it. Hell, he was doing it himself. Stupid move for his life and probably helping out with the rebellion, but at least it will show everyone what side he's on. But now I have no way to find out everything I need to know to help out.

"How are we supposed to figure out everything then?" I question her in a low voice, not quite able to hide my frustration. She looks at me, studies me for a moment before looking around and bringing me into a hug. Baffled, I hug her back before she whispers in my ear, using her hair as a curtain to hide her moving lips and treasonous words.

"Go behind Haymitch's house into the woods. About a fifteen minute walk in towards the mayor's house is a pine tree. Go around the tree trying to open it like a door, the handle being bark, and it leads to a room with all the information you need. Find it before Kennie's birthday." she tells me. I pull back and look at her like she's crazy. A tree opening? Is she on something or what?

She laughs at me. "Yeah, I thought that too at first."

Can she read my mind? Well I doubt it so she must be serious even though it sounds ridiculous. Guess I'm on a tree door hunt later. I give her a nod and go into the Justice Building to join everyone else, struggling to put on a careful mask that doesn't give anything away.

Gale's POV

As we sit down to watch the recap of the reapings, I can't help but think to myself how odd this feels. It's like…well it's almost like we're coming back empty handed from the Games by the people on this train (with the addition of Effie), but instead we're on our way there. And this has got to be so much worse than the first time I was reaped by a landslide. Then I was only worried about myself, trying to do anything I can to come back. This time I'm still going to do anything I can to bring someone back, but it's not myself this time. And however much that hurts everyone, especially Katniss and Kennie, I don't see them blaming my decision. Mostly because if any of them were in my shoes they would do the same thing, but it doesn't make it much easier.

So here we are, Effie and Nelia on one couch and Katniss, Kennie, and I on the other. Kennie is on my lap and Katniss is curled up to my side, me with my arm around her shoulders as she lays her head on mine and has her arm around Kennie. It make look strange considering it's a three person couch to be so close, but it's better this way anyway. As the reaping comes on I remember that other Victors are going in too with children, not just me. Knowing 11 other competitiors personally is not going to make this any easier either.

District one isn't too horrible to watch. Cashmere volunteers and an eleven year old boy is called who looks like he's at least thirteen, and he doesn't look too upset even for his young age. Seriously, when do they start training Careers? You would think that I would have known by now. District 2 isn't that bad either. Brutus volunteers (what a surprise. He never could stay out of a fight) and a ten year old girl is reaped. In District 3 it gets a little more difficult to watch. Wiress is reaped as well as a ten year old boy with glasses. I don't know Wiress very well but I do know Beetee and I know that they're good friends.

District 4 is the hardest to watch thus far, when Finnick is reaped. My stomach feels queasy at the thought of having to kill him, and I can feel Katniss tense up as well at the sight of him. I can't kill Finnick, he's one of my best friends. But then I look down to Kennie in my arms and I think about who would I rather not lose. And I'm still going to save Kennie even if it will kill me to harm Finnick. I hope against hope that someone, anyone at all will volunteer for him but of course no one does. An eight year old girl is reaped and it moves onto District 5, which isn't too horrible because I really don't know their Victors too well but a six year old boy is reaped and he's crying which is hard to see. District 6 comes on and I'm slammed with another good friend being reaped; Duncan. God, why is this so fucking hard? District 7 comes on and I sink even further as Johanna is reaped, the only female Victor. It seems like Snow is trying to make this as hard as possible for me. He must be smirking and enjoying that thought somewhere, but he underestimates the power of a parent trying to save their child. Nothing and no one will stand in my way of doing that even if it makes me crazy, kills me little by little.

When District 8 comes on its Romal, and I think to myself…well, at least he doesn't like me, even if that will probably work against me in the arena. The District 9 and 10 tributes I don't find too difficult to watch because the Victors of those districts usually stick to themselves, so I only know them by name and face really. I've long ago tried to stop watching the children get reaped so instead I look down to my own, seeing how she's taking this. She hasn't really spoken at all since she got reaped but I can't find it in myself to blame her for that. In fact, none of us have really spoken more than two words at a time the whole day-not even Effie. As soon as she pulled Kennie's name I knew she hated saying it, and I can tell now that the reaping is difficult for even her, a Capitolite that works for the Hunger Games, to watch.

Capitolites get attached to their Victors. Whether it be talking to them, paying for appointments, or just loving them for the entertainment value (like us), they take an interest in us, think they know us, talk about us all the time. They replay our Games and have shows and specials about all different kinds of things about us Victors that the Capitolites are sort of obsessed with. And if they like us too much, it makes it harder for them to watch us be reaped, thinking they actually know someone going in the Games. In a way, it's almost like they're seeing for the first time how we in the Districts feel about reapings. And let's be honest; no one likes children being in the Games. No one can honestly say that they want to watch a six year old die, even sadistic Capitolites. Especially Kennie, who they have gotten attached to like she's a Victor. Maybe even more so because they have watched her grow up, seen or gone to her birthday parties year after year. Investing an interest in her as the poster child of Panem basically. And if Effie could barely contain herself to say her name at the reaping, it gives me hope that the Capitolites will hate this. That perhaps Snow has overplayed his hand with this one.

District 11 comes on and Seeder, again the only female Victor is reaped. At seventy, she's one of the oldest Victors alive now, but she still looks like she can physically get around alright. I can't see her winning many fights, but if she can get away from the bloodbath she can probably make it at least a few days. The child from their district is a dark skinned nine year old boy, and as the screen switches over I realize I'm dreading watching our reaping more than anything else, even if I am a little curious what they did with it. Since they show the reapings live they couldn't have cut out too much of the rebellious salute, but who knows?

When our district comes on, it immediately goes to the potential tributes. It's me on one side alone in my pin and on the other side hundreds of little girls, all terrified and a lot trying mostly in vain not to cry. Seeing it…and I thought it was ridiculous before. But me against all those little girls, who of which a lot were half starving and frightened to death…the contrast is difficult to miss, and horrible to see and think about.

We see Effie get the name out of the bowl and come over with a smile on her face that falters when she sees the name. The commenters notice this but they don't comment, their eyebrows just go up in surprise-that is until Makenna's name is called. At first they can't say anything at all, but then they go on and on about how their beloved Makenna is going to be in the Games and how exciting it will be even though it's clear that they're decidedly not excited about it. When I jump my rope and race to the stage to hold her, they don't comment about how I shouldn't be doing that but say that it's good of me to do that. Wait…what? They aren't blaming me for being a bad tribute, not saying anything at all about how I shouldn't have done that? Maybe Snow really has overplayed his hand. I half smirk at the thought. Let the regret begin Mr. President.

Sadly and frustratingly enough, they end the reaping after Effie calls my name but you do get a glimpse of the District, the mayor, and Katniss and Nelia starting the salute. I'm certain that they couldn't have blocked it when it was live, but I'm mad that the districts didn't get to see it. But maybe they'll pick up on it; after all, they've shown the salute before, during Katniss's reaping. And she did it in the Games so it's not as secretive of a salute anymore.

When the reaping is over Nelia turns off the television and all of us silently agree that it's time for bed. Nelia and Effie leave first, and I hold Kennie in my arms and stand up, Katniss walking by my side as we bring her to her room. She buries her face in my chest the whole way and when we get to her room, I put her down on the bed and sit down next to where she's laying, Katniss doing the same on the other side.

Eventually she looks up and says in a teary voice, "I don't want to go."

It seriously almost breaks my heart, but I reply with a sigh, "I really wish we didn't have to but we do."

"Can you stay with me? I don't want to be alone." she whispers through her teary face. I look to Katniss who looks like she's about to break too and with a silent nod of agreement we both lay down and put our arms crossed around Kennie, holding onto each other too. I give Kennie, then Katniss a kiss on the forehead and lay my head down, my face close to Kennie's hair. Our time together is fading fast and I hate it more than anything. But eventually I drift into a horrible sleep and I dream about that instead of living it.

Effie's POV

In all my years of being an escort, never once have I regretted it. Of course it's difficult to reap children who you see cry and try to help every year, usually for them to just die in the Games, but I could always justify it. The districts deserved it for rebelling against the Capitol, we were doing a good thing by helping to show them who was in charge. I was doing a good job of being an escort, and the three times that I've been the escort of a Victor has made it worth it. For the jealously of others because of me, the parties and events I helped with and went to. For being a part of the greatest love story in the Hunger Games which has brought me so much, including happiness. To say that I was a part of that happening could justify everything. Until now.

Every since Makenna was born…no even before that, she's been the star child of the Capitol. Magazines, shows, dolls, accessories have been all about her, the little girl who is the child of the two Victor lovers. We love them, admire them for being a happy family and giving us something to love. Everyone in the Capitol loves Makenna-why else would we desire to go to her birthday parties every year, or do anything we can to get a picture with her, hold her, talk to her? And me being the escort of 12 meant that I always went to those things, personally knew her and them and everything. I'm not naïve enough to believe that they don't have problems-I see what other Capitolites see, after all. But in general they seem happy with their lives, and Makenna is always the happy if not curious little girl that we've all come to love. But seeing her name on that slip of paper yesterday…even I couldn't hide my distress on that stage in front of the cameras, and I'm a very good actress.

I knew that President Snow had many meetings with Gale and Katniss, but I never knew exactly what they were about. And the look on their faces at the parties told me that they really didn't want to be there even if they should love it. After all, who wouldn't want that kind of honor? But somehow…I don't know what, but Makenna's name being drawn from that reaping bowl didn't feel like it was by chance to me. Or perhaps I just couldn't live with the guilt that I chose the star child of Panem at the age of almost seven to be in the Hunger Games. People would hate me forever-it wouldn't matter if she won or not. So after Gale and Makenna left the stage, I went over to the girl's bowl and slipped a few of the slips of paper in my hand and went to the restroom. Makenna's name should only be in there once like every other girl there, so I should have just incredulously chosen hers by chance. But as I look at the four slips of paper that I took, all with her name on it, I know that this was no accident. President Snow wanted her in the Hunger Games, though I have no idea why. She's a well-loved little girl-what does he want to do with that? If I can't stand her being reaped I'm positive not many other people will be either.

Perhaps he just wants a show. After all, Gale had to be reaped because Haymitch died, and he might like the idea of a father protecting his daughter for the entertainment value. But that would mean that one or both of them will die, and that would mean breaking up either the most well-loved couple, leaving the most well-loved family childless, or both. And if he wanted heartbreak, that will only go so far. I don't like that our Victors were reaped, and it's especially horrible that children are going to be as well.

Sighing because I know that there isn't much I can do about it no matter how much I want to, I go to Makenna's room first to wake her up for breakfast. After all, it's a big big big day and she must be ready for the Remake Center. I quietly open the door but freeze where I am when I see all three of them in the bed, Makenna in the middle of Katniss and Gale. And though they are sleeping, not one of their faces look peaceful. Instead they look…well like this is the most difficult thing they have ever had to do, understandably so. It truly breaks my heart, and I'm resolved right here and now to help them in any way I can even if I don't know how. I'm Effie Trinket-I'll find a way. Planning is my specialty after all.


	31. Incredulous

Cinna's POV

Naturally as soon as I heard the announcement for the 84th Hunger Games I would know exactly who I would be dressing for this year. Knowing Katniss and Gale for years as well as dressing Makenna for all the events they were required to come to here in the Capitol meant that I knew their personalities, their views, and of course, secrets that I probably shouldn't know but do because they trust me. Luckily so, since all I've tried to do is help them since day one. Gale may have suspected that I am a part of the underground rebellion here since that first night of the 74th Hunger Games ten years ago, but I don't think any of them have a clue how vital I can be to aiding the whole rebellion by being their designer.

Being a designer for the Hunger Games is one of the most envious occupations to acquire here in the Capitol, as shallow as that seems. Well, in a way it is shallow. I didn't love it at first because I've never liked the idea of the Hunger Games (my father was a rebel before me and passed on his distaste), but my mother insisted because I was quite good at it. So grudgingly I signed up for designer classes to make her happy, but I still felt shallow. So my father told me the day before I started, "Cinna, instead of sulking why don't you embrace this and make your own statement with it?"

"What do you mean? I don't want anything to do with the Hunger Games and I'm not a fan of all the fashions here. You know that." I protested.

"Do you remember all the tributes that died?" he questioned me.

I thought hard about that. Sadly I found that the answer is no. I remember some of the more aggressive or bigger 'entertainers' but not any others besides that. Frowning, I shake my head.

"Make them remember with your designs. Make everyone regret the day that they do forget the dead and perhaps they will feel like they actually killed children." he exclaimed, and I had to smile at that. Yes, I could put my designs to good use. I could make people have to remember them and thinking about them not so much as just an obstacle in the way of the Victor but as real people.

So with that in mind I threw myself into designing with the drive to get the least known district out there to help them be remembered-District 12. I knew that the theme had to be coal mining, but I also knew that coal miners' outfits were generally used every single year and I had to be different if I was going to get people to remember them. So in my years of designing I tried and tried to come up with an idea to no avail. It wasn't until late at night one night staring into a candle flame that I had the idea of burning coal. And so the designs began. It didn't matter that I didn't know a way to do it safely yet, I would find a way.

By the time I graduated from design school, I had my idea and an offer to be a designer for the Hunger Games. They offered me District 6 but I didn't want that and asked for District 12. I was already dead set on them and I needed them. It just so happened that they had the most recent Victor and he was rumored to be wanted as a part of the rebellion, but that was just a helpful coincidence. The designer distributer thought that I was downgrading myself because I wanted the most recent winner and I let him think that. No matter, it would get me what I wanted anyway. It just so happened that I would get the most recent Victor's love. It just so happened that on my first year that I had a girl who could win and did. It was never the plan but I could still help people remember.

And as I look down at my most recent design that I began to draw the very night of that fateful announcement, I know for a fact that people will remember this one. For one it has essentially nothing to do with coal mining but I don't see many people caring. After all, that tradition is to help the Capitolites and the Districts remember where the tributes are from and everyone is well aware of where they are from and who they are this year. So my goal this year is to not make them remember; it's to never make them want to forget what these horrible Games have done.

As I walk into the room where Makenna's waiting for me, I sigh and place the book back in my bag. I have a feeling she's not going to be ready to talk about or even think about the Opening Ceremony tonight-after all she is only almost seven and I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to think about it and most likely crying. But to my surprise she's not crying right now though I can tell she has been recently, and as soon as she sees me she runs over and hugs me, burying her face into my stomach. I hug her back for a minute before crouching down to her level.

"Do you want to get some lunch?" I ask her quietly, and she nods before taking my hand and I lead her to the table. Sometime between spaghetti (her favorite) and dessert, she finally says something.

"Why were they crying?" she asks me, and I know she is referring to the prep team.

"They don't want you to go either. No one does." I tell her with a small smile. Good thing too that they don't want her to go. It will only make pulling at the Capitol's heartstrings even easier to accomplish tonight.

"Then why do me and Daddy have to go?" she questions me with a pout.

I sigh. This is a little harder to say to a little girl. After all I'm going to have to put this in terms she understands while trying to keep myself safe as well from treason. I'm not going to be much help to them this week if I'm behind bars or worse; otherwise I can't find it in myself to care that I tell the true treasonous words for once. "Because President Snow read that card because there wasn't a Victor last year and that's what it said." Or might has well of said. I don't see this being an accident. Oh sure the whole not having a Victor probably was, but I can't convince myself that the card was a coincidence. It's too perfect.

Makenna thinks for a moment before saying with resolve, "Well, President Snow's a meany and he should take it back."

I barely choke back a laugh at that. Yes he most certainly is but I doubt she knows that what she just said is probably big trouble for her. But I can't find it in myself to chastise her or tell her otherwise. Fiery girl indeed. That necklace certainly suits her and so does her name. So instead of saying anything about her blunt statement I change to subject after a minute.

"Would you like to see your new dress for tonight?" I ask her, and her face lights up. While Katniss hates dressing up of any kind, Makenna incredulously likes it despite all her curiosity and inability to stay still for very long. Or maybe she just likes that I usually make all her dresses and clothes her favorite colors and I let her pick things. Either way it's just one more thing I adore about her. One more reason that I'm resolved to make everyone hate her going into the Games.

When she sees it she frowns a little. "It's all white. Where are all the pretty colors?"

I smile at her. She may be the phoenix to the rebels, but here in the Capitol she's a loved child. "Do you know what you are Kennie?"

"A girl." she replies and I chuckle.

"Yes you are but you are something else too." I smile.

"What?" she questions me quizzically.

"An angel."

Madge's POV

You would think after being here in District 13 for almost eight years I would be used to it by now. The strict rigid schedule printed on your wrist every morning. The dull gray uniforms that everyone wears. The calculated…well, everything. I can honestly say that I miss District 12 and that's saying something considering that Katniss and Gale at the end were my only friends and I still have Rye. There isn't much joy here even though it's clear that the rebellion will truly begin in a matter of days. Really, the only joys I've had in the last eight years are my trips as a sort of ambassador/proof when we pick up the 'dead' in District 12 and my children.

I have to sigh at that. I'd always wanted children-of course I did, how could someone not? But I wanted to have them on my own terms and maybe only one or two. Here…well basically all young couples or if I'm honest, anyone who can is basically ordered to have children, and you're told when and that you should have as many as possible. I knew that District 13 needed people but somehow I didn't see that they needed us to basically be livestock. No sooner than Rye arrived in District 13 we were ordered to marry (which we had planned on doing anyway) and get going on reproducing essentially. At first we were baffled by that order but did what we were told (not very hard because we loved the means of doing it) and three months later I found out that I was pregnant. After John was born I thought that we would have a few years to just be a family of three. In the end they gave me about eight months before the order came again. And again after that. In the end I have three children and I'm five months pregnant with my fourth. Don't get me wrong, I love my children. It's just…frustrating that this is the rebel base and I'm still being ordered around on things that should be my choice. It's almost worse than being in District 12 with President Snow in charge. Of course what he's done this year makes me glad that my children are here and safe, unlike Katniss and Gale's child.

We watch the Games here not because we have to but to show the horrible and vial things that Snow does as more…education. And also to justify the rebellion to anyone here who is stupid enough to think that it isn't necessary. If that wasn't clear in years past it certainly is now. Even here where we are immune from the Hunger Games, people are holding their children close to them from fear and relief that their children are safe. How could you possibly think of something more horrible than putting that young of children in the Games, let alone anyone else. And the Victors…well that just proves the rebellion is necessary even more. The Capitol lies. Victors are supposed to be safe but here twelve of them are ready and poised to be in the Games once again, live their nightmares again. With little more than babies as their competitors.

As the Opening Ceremony begins I watch half with amazement and disgust all at the same time. The sheer contrast between size and age on the carriages is overwhelming, and you can clearly tell that everyone aside from the Career Victors (minus Finnick) don't want to be there. It isn't until District 12's carriage comes out that my shaking my head in disgust stops and my mouth drops open at the sheer brilliance of what is on that carriage. I knew that Katniss's stylist Cinna was a genius, but this is…I can't even describe how perfect it is.

Katniss and Gale's daughter is sitting on Gale's shoulders even as the horses pull the carriage. He is in a sort of armor-the protector of course. Knight in shining armor indeed. Even after all these years and falling in love with Rye, I can't help but notice how attractive he is. What, a married woman can still find other men handsome right? No one was immune to Gale anyway. But it's their little girl, Makenna that steals the show. She's dressed in all white with white feathery wings on her back, and somehow she has a gold glowing halo above her head that I have no clue how it's staying there. She just smiles sadly at the crowd and cries. The effect is not one of cheering but of distress and sadness, and I realize just what Cinna has done. He's showing them that they did this to her, the precious little girl that they love. He's making her an angel to remind them that they are killing the innocent, the pure. That an angel is not alive, that they have killed her. The effect is maddening. Some are incredulously shouting how wrong this is and please don't go. Cinna has incredulously made the Capitol see what the Districts see in the Hunger Games. A wrongful mass murder of children. I will never underestimate the effect a designer can have again.

Gale's POV

Despite everything, I can't help but be a little happy at how the parade turned out. Having Kennie be an angel was brilliant, and Cinna certainly got the point across to the Capitol. Their crying and shouts of how wrong this is made me want to smile on that carriage but I steeled myself to not do that for two reasons. One, because the whole point was for people to know that I hate this, which is true and smiling would say otherwise. The other is that if I obviously approved of the crowd's reaction it would certainly show Snow that we did this on purpose, that he's just digging his own grave. Not that I really needed to hide my smile for Snow to know that either of those were the truth. During the speech he stared right at me the whole time, his puffy lips in a smile but his eyes glaring right at me. Good, I don't give a shit. I said I'd make him regret the day he thought this was a good idea and this just proves that I'm getting to him…well with a little help anyway. I just hope that for Cinna's sake he knows what he's just done to himself.

As soon as the carriages are back in the stable I lift Kennie off of my shoulders and rest her on my hip.

"How did I do?" she asks me. We had told her that she shouldn't smile and wave like she always did for the pretty colored people, that they wanted her to be sad now but still smiling. I couldn't see her obviously since she was on my shoulders as high up as she could be (another illusion in Cinna's idea that she was an angel that the Capitol killed even if she's going to live), but I could see her on the screens. She's quite the actress when she wants to be. Of course at her age it's not hard to act sad and cry in this sort of situation so it probably wasn't much acting other than the smile.

"You did great sweetie." I hear a voice from behind me. I turn around to see Katniss with a sad smile on her face but her eyes tell me that she's quite satisfied with the results. I put Kennie down and she goes to hug Katniss as I kiss her deeply, cupping her face in my hand. When she pulls out she still has that sad smile on her face and looks like she wants to say something but just sighs. I give her a quizzical look and she replies back with a shake of her head that says Later.

Some of the other tributes are walking past us at this point, most being looks of pity other than the Careers. Cashmere and Brutus both know Makenna but they are Careers and they did volunteer so I really wouldn't put it past them to just pretend they don't know her. But Finnick with them is a surprise to me.

"Hey Finn, do you want to go to the pool later?" I ask him. It's what we usually do on the first night, mostly just to catch up and play around while Kennie is sleeping. He looks back quickly to Cashmere and Brutus who are studying him with an almost…judging expression.

"Sorry, can't." Finnick replies back.

"Why not? It's not like we have anything better to do." I question him confusedly.

"Because I'm not interested." He states almost coldly, and I'm taken aback.

"Not interested? Finnick we're friends." I reply in almost surprise. What is with him?

I see him take on a hard look as he incredulously says, "Because I'm interested in preserving my own life, and I can't see that happening with you or her around."

He turns and follows Cashmere and Brutus who have satisfied looks on their faces so he misses the completely shocked, hurt, and baffled expressions plastered on both my and Katniss's faces.

…What?


	32. Confusion

Katniss's POV

As Gale hovers above me as we catch our breaths, he traces my features while I press my hands against his warm chest, feeling his racing heartbeat slowly begin to go back to normal under them. Heartbeats that match mine beat for beat. But there's one difference-his are numbered. It only makes every intimate moment we have more bittersweet, the more precious. It makes me realize that I should have never have taken any of this for granted.

"God I'll miss this." Gale whispers, his hot breath fanning my cheek.

"Gale." I sigh in frustration. Just because I know this is coming to an end doesn't mean I want to think or talk about it.

"Katniss." He replies back the same way, "We can't avoid it any more, you know that."

And I do know that. And I can't say that I blame his choice because if I was in his position I know I would have been the same. In fact, I do wish it was me going in instead of Gale. He's the better parent anyway (in my opinion) and he can protect Kennie far better out here than I ever could. And…well if it was me going in instead of him, I wouldn't be left behind. I wouldn't be the one left with a broken heart and I still don't know how to handle that. "It doesn't mean I have to like it." I reply.

"I never thought you would." Gale says as he brushes the sweaty strands that have fallen into my face away. "But it doesn't change anything."

I sigh again. No it doesn't. Gale and Kennie are still going into the Games, and no matter how the Capitol reacted earlier at the Opening Ceremony, I can't see Snow stopping this or even bending any rules. He wants to punish us and I can't honestly see any way to get out of it. The best case scenario is that only one of them comes out, and if Gale has any say in that it's not going to be him. And the only half possible way that this wouldn't have happened is if that drunk Haymitch hadn't died and had gone in with Kennie like he said he might. Pretty convenient of him to die mere weeks before the reaping. Actually now that I think about it…it's almost too convenient. Like Snow knew that he might go in and then Gale wouldn't. Meaning that he couldn't be absolutely positive that there would be a punishment of some kind.

"Do you think Snow did it?" I question him, and he snorts.

"I think it's pretty safe to say Snow does everything, but what do you mean?" he asks me.

"Haymitch."

He looks at me for a moment and then nods. "Probably. I wouldn't put it past him to punish anyone in the way of his goal."

Snow's goal…to show us who's really in charge. Anyone in his way or potentially in his way of accomplishing that I can see him doing something about it. Which reminds me…

"Rory called." I inform him, to which Gale's eyebrows raise in surprise and confusion.

"When? And for what?" he questions me.

"When you were in the Remake Center." I reply, "He…told me that the mayor was under house arrest or something. Hadn't been seen since the reaping and Thread's saying he's in charge."

"Did it have something to do with him doing the salute with everyone else?" Gale asks, and I nod.

"We think so. Apparently the fence is back on all the time too so maybe they found out about that too." I reply guiltily. I feel really bad that all the mayor was trying to do was help us with turning off the fence and now he's paying for it.

"What was he doing by the fence?" Gale asks me in confusion and I give him a small shrug.

"I don't know. Maybe he was going to hunt?" I guess, but Gale shakes his head.

"No, I mean why wasn't he at the mines? Work and school start again the day after Reaping Day." he reminds me. Oh I hadn't thought about that with everything else going on, but he's right.

"Do you think that they could have stopped work because of the reaping? To punish people?" I ask.

He sighs. "I don't know, maybe. Can't be good for anyone if that's true."

"Nothing good is coming out of that reaping." I point out to him bitterly, rounding back to the beginning of this conversation again. He gives my lips a long, lingering kiss before rolling over to my side and pulling me to him.

"We're not in danger yet, Catnip." Gale whispers, giving my forehead a light kiss before settling back into the pillow. I sigh but don't counteract the statement. There's danger everywhere, but I don't need to point that out to him for him to know it's true. I should say that the danger has already begun-it doesn't start in the arena. But I don't. Instead, I use his chest as a pillow and try to get some sleep.

Gale's POV

The first day of training this year is…odd to say the least. For starters only us Victors are here today, as it was decided that since the other 12 tributes are so young they would have training separately today to learn basic survival skills and some of them apparently need it knocked into them that there will be killing or they will die. Pretty fucking harsh for a six year old to hear that, but there's not much getting around the facts anymore. Kennie has a pretty good idea of what's going on from all her questions and being in the Mentor Room all her life as well as probably having a lot more skills from us teaching her than probably anyone in that room aside from maybe the Career kids, but I still hate that she's there. I wish I could be with her all day so she wouldn't have to worry about anything. It's not like I plan on letting her kill someone or being killed herself, so most of this training isn't necessary for her.

In the Training Room where I am, however, training probably is necessary but none of us really know where to start. After all, this is pretty ridiculous. We all know each other, have seen everyone's Games so we know what they can do (or could if they're older), so there aren't really any secrets to hold against each other. The only possible secret I have is the bow since I didn't use that in my Games, but I'm not sure how secretive that is anymore. For one, Finnick knows and by the way he's been since yesterday he could have very well told Cashmere and Brutus that. I tried to go talk to Finnick when he came in but he ignored me and went straight to them. It's really pissing me off. I mean you have got to be fucking kidding me. Finnick and I are friends (or at least I thought we were); and yeah, I'm not going to put him above Kennie especially if I'm putting her above me, but we can still be friends right? It's not like either of us is going to live through these Games anyway so what does it matter? Besides the fact that it makes zero sense that he's in the Career pack this year other than that he comes from District 4. I mean yeah he was in it in his own Games, but in general he dislikes Careers. Or at least I thought he did.

So basically since training is practically useless for most of us today other than to brush up on our skills, most of us just joke around all day. Johanna gets a wicked grin on her face and strips down to nothing when she wrestles the trainer, resulting in the trainer (and quite a few more) blushing furiously while us Victors either snicker or roll our eyes. Of course Johanna would do that. I decide that since it would be funny (and I don't have a lot more humor coming my way) besides the fact that everyone here knows I can do snares, I make an elaborate one with almost invisible fishing line from the fishing station and set up a trap before pretending I hurt myself with a sword. Three trainers and a medic come rushing over, and one of them triggers the trap, sending two of them in the air by their ankles. It earns a huge laugh from the Victors and a small smirk from me, but the trainers and the Gamemakers simply shake their heads at it.

Even Brutus to my surprise joins in on the Victors versus Training Center battle we've done today. After lunch (where the Careers eat together but the rest of us eat at one table), he 'accidentally' barrels into the camouflage station, sending buckets of berry juice and mud everywhere and coating anyone within a five foot distance of the station. Victors: 3, Training Center: 0. The Gamemakers and the trainers are more than ticked off at this point, but none of us care. They're doing this to us; we shouldn't even have been in the reaping bowl because we were supposed to be safe. The least we can do is repay them in this small way.

They decide that they're too pissed off to deal with us anymore today, however, as the Head Gamemaker tells us with a frown in a clearly annoyed tone that training is done for the day and to report back at ten o'clock tomorrow. Victors: 3, Training Center: 1. We should be mad that we have three hours less of training but none of us seem to care. Oh well, all it means is that I have three more hours to be with Katniss alone before Kennie gets back. Besides, I have a feeling that us Victors will be better tomorrow not because they're pissed at us, but because there are little kids there and we need to set a good example for them. I can't see even Johanna going around stark naked in front of them, after all.

When I get back to our floor my good mood falters when I realize that Katniss isn't here-she'll be at sponsor parties all afternoon. Well damn it, there goes my plans. Almost wish I was still in training because it was actually enormously entertaining today despite everything else going on. Being alone now just gives me ample time to sit and think about all the bad stuff and I was kind of hoping that I could just avoid all that for as long as possible no matter what I told Katniss last night. Hmm…maybe I'll go take a nap instead.

I feel something bounce on the couch where I drifted off and wake with a start, instantly looking around. I find Kennie sitting behind my head looking down at me with a smile and sit up.

"Hi sweetie, how was your day." I ask her, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

"Okay. All the other kids looked at me weird though." she claims.

"Really? Why's that?" I ask her.

"Well I don't know, but I think it was because I could do stuff and they can't." she tells me, "Well some of the bigger kids could, but the others couldn't." Ah, the bigger kids are probably from the Career districts. Really, it wouldn't surprise me if they could. Besides, we've…sort of trained Kennie like a Career so I guess she's kind of like them in a way, even if I don't like thinking about it that way.

"Well that's okay, you can stay with me the next two days." I exclaim, and look around. "Where's Mommy?" I ask her.

"She and Nelia aren't back yet." she informs me. Really? Must be quite the sponsor party if she's not back before training ended. I wonder what's holding them there?

"Alright." I sigh, "Why don't you go get ready for dinner?" I suggest, and plan on doing the same. I'm still in my training outfit and it's a little dirty from the splashes of berry and mud I got sprayed with when Brutus ran into the camouflage station. I wasn't near enough to get covered in it like some people but I was in the station next to it so I guess I was close enough.

She nods and turns to go to her room, but then turns right back to me and pulls something out of her pocket, "Oh I almost forgot. Uncle Finn told me to give this to you." she claims as she hands me a note.

"When did you see him?" I ask, some of my anger at Finnick seeping into my tone. What, now he has to use her as a messenger? Too scared to man up and tell me straight up what the fuck is going on with him?

"When he came to pick up the girl from his district." she informs me. Oops, I should have done that. I can't believe I fell asleep and made my almost seven year old go around the Training Center by herself. I mean I know she kind of knows her way around, but still.

"Alright, thanks sweetie." I say, and I make sure she's gone before I open the note.

Roof at 5:40

Is all it says in Finnick's scratchy handwriting. What the fuck? Now he wants to talk? Well, I can't say that I don't want some answers from him so I guess I'll go. I look around for a clock and see that it's 5:42. Well, I'll be a little late but I bet he's still up there. Unless this is a trap of some kind, though I really can't see how. He's already made it blatantly clear that he's in this to save his own ass and fighting other tributes before going into the arena is against the rules, and us Victors are already in hot water with the Gamemakers. So I guess it might not be a trap so much as an explanation. Not that I really need one other than what the hell he's doing with the Careers and why he's being…well an ass. Yeah, I think I'll go now.

When I get up to the roof I'm still on guard when I don't see anyone at first even if I don't really think that the Careers are actually going to jump me or something. I relax a little when Finnick comes out from behind a tree and motions me towards him. I don't sense anyone else and I pretty sure he's alone, but just in case I walk over tentatively. When I'm in front of him I glare, waiting for him to begin.

He sighs, "Sorry about that. I had to make them trust me that I wasn't double crossing them."

My eyebrows rise in suspicion. "Are you double crossing them?"

It's his turn to look surprised. "Of course I am. You of all people know how much I hate Careers."

"True." I concede. It's what I've known all along but I somehow missed the idea of double crossing them. "Then what's it for?"

"I need to get out of that Cornucopia alive or I'm not going to be much help you know." Finnick exclaims. Oh, so he needs to make them trust him enough to not kill him when he's getting supplies. I guess that makes sense. What it doesn't explain is why he was being an ass to us. He could have just told me that. Though I guess our reactions had to be believable if he was going to get Cashmere and Brutus to believe that he wasn't going to be any help to us at all.

"Help with what?" I question him.

"Getting Kennie out alive." Finnick states, and I'm half shocked and half completely suspicious.

"Why would you want her to live over you?" I ask. I mean it makes sense for me to feel that way because Kennie's my daughter but not Finnick.

"Because Kennie is much more important than I am. Than any of us." Finnick whispers, and I give him a look of utter confusion.

"Look, I can't tell you much for your own safety and for Katniss's you can't tell her any of this either, but we're getting Kennie out alive." Finnick whispers again, and then raises his voice. "Friends again?"

Baffled, I nod and he pulls me into a hug which I tentatively return.

"There are a lot of people on board to make this happen. Whatever happens in that arena, just know that Kennie is going to get out alive no matter what and we're going to try to get everyone else we can out too." Finnick whispers in my ear and pulls out, studying my reaction. All he's getting is an extremely confused expression from me because I have no clue what the fuck he's saying. Unless…

"How can you know that they'll stop the Games?" I ask him. I don't see that happening even with the Capitol hating it now, but how could Finnick be so certain? Snow would not do that.

"Snow won't. We will." Finnick replies vaguely with an almost…smug appearance.

"What?" I ask, baffled.

He shakes his head with a look that says not here or now before saying, "All you have to know is what I told you. I'm still going to have to be an ass to you but you have to know that this is the truth. I'm on your side."

He walks away after that with a smile and a wave, and I end up staying on the roof trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. Clearly I don't know as much as I think I do, and that kind of scares me.


	33. Retaliation

Rory's POV

How hard can it possibly be to find a tree door in these small woods? Turns out pretty damn hard. Prim and I have been looking since the reaping in this stupid forest about fifteen minutes away towards the mayor's house from Haymitch's backyard and have found nothing thus far. I had told my boss that my mother needed emotional support because of Gale and Kennie both being tributes so that I could take off work and look around, plan for whatever I need to do for the rebellion. Luckily for me he bought it, and I think it would finally please my brother that we're living off of his Victor money right now instead of my wages (plus some from Prim's medicine). In reality, I think my mother is taking it better than anyone. Prim's mother has gone into an almost…silent half dead state ever since they left. Prim told me it's sort of like when her father died, but at least right now she can insist that Kennie is still alive. I wish I could tell her that Kennie will be fine either way, but I can't do that. For one, there's no guarantee that this breakout will work, and for two there's no guarantee that Kennie will still be alive after the bloodbath no matter what Gale does. Some things you just can't control, after all. Of course some things you can like this rebellion, but here that means me finding this damn tree; apparently easier said than done.

I groan in frustration as I go around what has to be the only pine tree in a twenty yard radius that we haven't gone around pulling on the bark one way and then the other trying to open it like a door. Where the hell is this tree? Nelia would not have sent me on a wild goose chase for something this stupid if it wasn't true, so why can't I find it?

"Maybe we've gone too far or not enough?" Prim suggests as I sit down against the tree I just went around with my elbows on my knees, my head buried in my hands.

I peak through my hands to see her sitting in front of me. "She said fifteen minutes away and we walked that." I remind her.

"I thought she said about fifteen minutes." Prim protests, shaking her head. "It depends on people's steps and strides how much fifteen minutes is. You're taller than her and I'm shorter, so why don't we both walk it at our own pace and look in the middle of that?"

I sigh but concede that we might as well give it a shot. It's not like I have a better plan anyway. As we walk back to the edge of the forest to try this again, I look back towards the mayor's house where you can just see the top floor. I may have been in this stupid forest basically all daylight hours since the reaping, but I know that no one has seen the mayor since the reaping still. Apparently even his wife and the housekeeper have been kicked out of the house though, so who knows what's going on? Are the interrogating him? Scouring the place for anything incriminating? Is he already dead? I shake my head to get rid of those questions because I have far too many right now to think about. And I only have a week left until Kennie's birthday to find this damn tree, find all the information I need, and come up with some semblance of a plan to help the rebellion here in District 12 if and when the Capitol retaliates for whatever this breakout is that the rebels are planning for the arena. Though I suspect that even if it fails the Capitol will still retaliate, so it only makes my job that much more important.

If I could only just find that damn tree…

Gale's POV

You would think that after seeing all the little kids that are tributes at the Opening Ceremony and the recap of the reapings that I would be prepared for being in training with them on the second day; turns out I wasn't. It's one thing to see and know that they have to fight at that young of an age when they should be playing with toys or going to school and learning how to read, but to see them in this room with us Victors…the contrast is maddening. Some of them just got hit with the reality yesterday that they are going to have to kill or die (most of them most likely on the first day as apparently the head trainer basically told them), and the vast majority of them are scared shitless, understandably so. While they are scared, some of them actually do try to learn some things with shaky hands and some literally just try mostly in vain not to cry. Us Victors are really just pissed still that they are here, and while some help their kids, some just try to pretend that they don't exist so that they don't have to think about it. Honestly, the kids are pretty damn intimidated by us and that's not helping any. The only kids that are doing somewhat alright are the Career district kids and Makenna.

The Career district kids follow those Victors around like idols, watching them in awe as they show off their impressive skills even after all these years (I suspect they are some of the trainers in the Career training so that could explain it) and try to do the same. Makenna is with me all day and I try to keep her doing things that she doesn't already know, but she bores with them easily and in the end we go to the archery station where this year they have kid sized bows and arrows for the special occasion. I figure that even though (hopefully) no one here knows that I'm good with a bow that they won't think anything of Kennie being decent with one because they might assume that Katniss taught her. Now that I think about it they could think that about me too, but oh well; I'll stick with not practicing on the off chance that it isn't true.

She doesn't hit the bull's eye more than twice in the hour that we're at the station, but she does hit the actual target most of the time like usual. The kids are half impressed, half terrified of this skill that she has. The Career kids look a little jealous but they pretend to ignore it and focus back on their idols while peaking glances at Makenna the whole time. The Victors…well honestly no one looks the least bit surprised, even Cashmere and Brutus. It was never really a secret that we had been teaching her things (besides the fact that about half the Victors here had personally taught her something) and I'm pretty sure every Victor guessed if they hadn't known for sure that Kennie would be going in the Games one day. Of course none of us saw it coming that it would be quite this early, but her knowing how to use a bow at the age of seven isn't a shock to them. The Gamemakers are suitably impressed and surprised, however, but that's probably because they didn't realize that we used the training room during the actual Games all these years to teach her. This place is familiar to Kennie unlike all the other little kids but they don't need to know that and to my sort of surprise not even Cashmere or Brutus point that out to them. Guess there is some line that even Careers won't cross in this Victors stick together thing.

After lunch I take Kennie to the knot tying station, but after about twenty minutes she gets a frown on her face and puts down the string that she was tying a simple snare with.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, picking up the string she put down and studying it. It doesn't look like she's made any mistakes in it thus far.

"I'm bored. Can we go up to our floor yet?" Kennie pouts, and I have to smile. I bet all the little kids are either tired or bored if they can get past their fear. Maybe the Gamemakers should have thought of that when they decided to keep them in training as long as us Victors but I can't do anything about that now.

"Sorry sweetie, but we can't yet." I sigh with a sad smile.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she half whines, "I don't want to do this anymore!"

I groan and look around. I get that she's bored but I don't know what to do with her. Most of the little kids are at the survival stations fumbling with everything. Some Victors and the Career kids are at different weapon stations. Seeder is at the boxing station, but I highly suspect that she's just taking a nap by the way she's sitting at the table with a boxing glove as an almost pillow for her face. The Career Victors are whispering to their Career kids and looking around the room before dispersing, the Career with their respective district kid. Wonder what that was about? Well it's not like I can go ask. But…

I put down the snare I was working on and crouch down in front of Kennie with a half smile, half smirk on my face. "How would you like to be my little helper?" I offer her in a whisper. Her face lights up and she nods.

"What do I have to do?" she excitedly whispers back.

"You know how you always ask everyone questions in the room we're usually in for the Games?" I ask her.

"Uh huh." she replies.

"Why don't you do that with everyone here? Go around the room and watch people, ask them what they're doing." I tell her.

"Will it help?" she questions with a confused look and I nod with a smile.

"Yes, a lot. You can find out what they're doing and tell me later and it will help us a lot." I inform her, and with a smile she nods in agreement and flits off to do just that. I have a satisfied smirk plastered on my face as I turn back to the snare I put down. I may not be able to straight up go and ask what the fuck is going on, but Kennie can. Hell, it's even normal for that to happen so even Cashmere and Brutus might not think too much of it and answer her before they even realize what's really happening. Sure it may be cheating or seem wrong to use my daughter as a spy, but hey, it works. For once her curiosity is going to be extremely helpful and not frustrate me by what she's asking that I don't want to answer.

For the rest of the day and the next morning before the private sessions, Kennie decides to do just that when she gets bored with learning or practicing skills and I have to say that I'm (guiltily) proud of how good of a little spy she's turned out to be. Like I suspected, the Victors thought nothing of it when she went around pressing questions on them and I know for a fact that even Cashmere and Brutus didn't catch on before giving her at least some information. The kids were even less suspicious and told her a lot, which wasn't much helpful information because they really didn't have any but still. Katniss rolled her eyes when I told her but even she had to grudgingly admit that it was a good idea if I was going to get helpful information.

When Kennie went over to Finnick and his district little girl he seemed to know what was going on right away and found me, giving me a quiet chuckle as I shrug with a small smile from across the room. When Cashmere and Brutus finally figured out that I was using Kennie as a spy they glared at me (luckily when she had already left them and moved onto someone else) to which I gave them a smirk back. They already know that I'm using Kennie to get information anyway; no use hiding that.

After lunch on the third day of training the private sessions begin. Usually boys go first and girls go second for each district in order, but because of the unusual set of tributes this year, they decided to make it kids first, Victors second. As the District 1 boy goes first, he looks a little anxious understandably so but steels himself when his name is called and goes into the room. The rest of us idly chat or eat some more lunch, us Victors mostly joking around again at what the hell we're going to do since it's not like we can really surprise them with our skills while most of the little kids are silent. Well, except for the District 2 and District 4 girls, who listen to the whole thing in awe. Of course, they've probably grown up to idolize all Victors and hoped to be one someday even if they don't really expect to be one now. Still, that doesn't stop them from looking like they want to be a part of the conversation.

As the hours go on, the room gets quieter and quieter until Seeder leaves and it's just me and Kennie. Not that it really matters what her score is since I'm not planning on letting her do much (besides maybe just have a bow or something as protection if all else fails), but I'm sure she wants to impress the Gamemakers regardless. I, on the other hand, don't plan on impressing them at all. Instead I plan on giving them a piece of my mind no matter how treasonous or troublesome it may be. It's not like they can go around telling people what I did anyway (besides Snow who I would like to know that I did it anyway), and if I get a low score I really don't care. People will probably realize that I did something to piss off the Gamemakers because of the situation I'm in so I can probably still get sponsors regardless and keep the many that Katniss has already received for us. Not even Capitolites would blame me for being pissed off I think-not after the Opening Ceremony anyway. And what's Snow going to do? Kill me? That's already a part of his plan anyway so it's not that big of a threat. Although there is that thing that Finnick was trying to tell me the other night…I still haven't entirely figured out what it meant though I think he means that a lot of Victors are choosing Makenna to win to spite Snow. Though he said something about getting as many others out as they could…so what? Are we going to decide to not kill? The Gamemakers will surely retaliate that by sending mutts or something after us, but it would be a great stand of defiance that the country would have to see. Though that doesn't make much sense for two reasons; one because the first targets would probably be myself and Kennie from the Gamemakers, and two because despite everything, I can see at least Cashmere and Brutus not having a problem killing the little kids or Victors for that matter. Which means that if there is some semblance of a plan they probably aren't part of it. I don't know, so I need to focus on Kennie right now.

"What are you going to do?" I ask her, and she shrugs.

"I don't know." she says, "I guess I'll shoot with that little bow like mine at home or tie something."

"That's good." I agree. The Gamemakers were already impressed with her skills before because of her young age so she might get a somewhat decent score with that.

"What are you doing?" she questions me after a minute and I hesitate. I'm can't outright tell her what I'm doing because it's really very bad but I don't give a shit. So I decide to put it in her own words.

"Show them that Snow's a meany." I tell her, though my term would be fucking rat bastard. She looks thoughtful at that and is pretty much quiet for the rest of the waiting time until her name is called. When they do she surprises me by getting up right away and has a determined look on her face.

"Mommy will be waiting for you when you get done." I tell her, and she nods before turning towards the door. For the next ten minutes or so I wait until my name is called. It should have been fifteen but maybe she got bored and ran out of things to show them. Oh well, it just means that I get to do my plan faster. I'll find out what she did soon enough.

When I go in the room I'm surprised to see that the Gamemakers look somewhat flustered, but very alert. Good, that means Kennie probably impressed them or something. Maybe they're just flustered because they realize I'm not going to be a good little tribute. I quickly set to work without even acknowledging them, going to the snare station to pick up the mostly done elaborate snare that I was working on earlier to save time in here and finishing it quickly before setting the trap, along with dummies I place in specific areas of the training room. I set up three different groups of dummies and go over to the camoflauge station and write on three of the dummies, one in each of the groups before picking up a bow and arrow. I glance up at the Gamemakers and some of them look like they're dreading whatever the hell they think I'm doing by the words I painted onto the dummies before I begin.

I fire the arrow behind the group of dummies that I painted The Capitol on at the dummies that I painted on Victors and Kids, representing the tributes of this year's Games. It might seem strange that I would fire to kill myself, but that's where the trap comes in. I had fired just above the dummies so that my arrow would trigger the trap, and it ends up hanging the third dummy; the one I painted on the name Snow. This also triggers another part of the trap that makes the area I'm in behind the Capitol dummies fling knives in the hanged dummy's direction, two of them hitting the dummy. My idea was to show them that the Capitol is killing us, but with that we will kill Snow because of an uprising and the Capitol will be a part of that. Sure it's reckless and stupid to show the Gamemakers that, but I feel pretty satisfied.

I expected gasps, frowns, and shock, and I do get that. But a lot of them to my confusion also look bitter and roll their eyes.

The Head Gamemaker sighs and in an annoyed tone states, "You may go Mr. Hawthorne."

That I expected, and without a word I put the bow down and start to walk away when I hear the strangest thing. Another Gamemaker sighs and says, "Like father, like daughter."


	34. Dread

Katniss's POV

If anyone had every doubted that Makenna was my and Gale's child, I don't think they do anymore. I expected something rather…well treasonous from Gale because I never thought he would play by their rules this year, especially under the circumstances. But her…I didn't think she would even think that she could do something like that, let alone think of something to do that shows the general anger of us all about these Games. She will never stop surprising me; you'd think I'd have been used to that by now.

I had been waiting outside the training room for Kennie to finish to take her back upstairs so she wouldn't have to go alone. Seeing as we're the last district you would think that I would have been waiting by myself for her, but to my surprise I wasn't at all. Cecilia had decided to take it upon herself to help me through all this I suspect, as she has been trying to comfort me when I'm down during the sponsorship parties and reminds me constantly that Kennie actually has skills, that Gale has such a determination about him that he will accomplish anything he wants to (I think she knows what he's really determined to do, being a parent herself). Another reason I wasn't alone was because Beetee was still down here with his boy tribute, who horribly it turns out is his nephew, Albert. I don't think that it was rigged for Albert and that it really was by chance he got reaped and neither does Beetee because really, what has Beetee done to piss off Snow? Nothing that we can think of. Beetee is a fifty something year old Victor who was never really popular, so saying his youngest nephew was reaped on purpose doesn't seem likely, unlike Makenna.

The reason they're still here is that Albert is fascinated with Makenna, but not in the crush way (thank goodness; I don't know if I'm ready to handle that kind of thing with her). When Gale had Kennie be a spy during training, she came up to him and Albert was apparently impressed by how smart she was and her skills and wants to talk to her more. Being Beetee's nephew and from District 3 he's probably very intelligent himself for a ten year old, but I think he just wants a friend. I'm not too thrilled with the idea of Kennie making friends with kids that are going to be dead in a manner of days, but I can't find it in myself to tell Albert no. It's not like he really thinks that he has much joy in his life left anyway, so who am I to prevent this one small request that will make him happy?

So there we were waiting for Kennie after Seeder left, mostly just standing around and quietly talking. When Kennie comes out before her fifteen minutes are up at first I don't think too much of it, that she simply ran out of things to do to impress the Gamemakers or something. But by the look of almost…guilt on her face that guess sinks and I start to dread whatever is was that she did even if I don't know. All I can think is that it was something bad that happened, though I can't imagine what.

"Hi Kennie. How did you do?" I ask her, trying to keep the wariness I somehow feel out of my voice. Kennie looks at the other people around me before shrugging, casting her eyes down.

"I don't know." she mumbles, "I didn't think that the robed people would get that mad."

Oh dear god what on earth did she do? Now I ask warily after a moment, "What did you do?" She doesn't answer me at first, choosing to go towards the elevator. With a sigh I stop her and turn her around, seeing that she looks almost ready to cry. I gently place my hand under her chin so that she has to look at me.

"Makenna." I say gently but forcefully, "What did you do in there?"

I see a tear trying to break free but don't stop it, waiting for her to answer me. She bites her lip once before answering me, "I tied up President Snow."

"…You what?"

"I tied up President Snow with a rope." she breathes, and then continues without taking a breath, "It was one of the stuffed things that I painted his name on and I pretended I was him and pushed him into the other stuffed things that I painted my name and the other kids and people I knew and it knocked them over. So to get back at him for knocking them over I tied him up good before getting the little bow and shooting it at his dumb head but they didn't like it so they told me to leave but I didn't think they would be that mad."

Oh dear god. Kennie the rebel. But how on earth did she even think about that? She's seven and we told her to do things she knew how to do. Gale I expected something like this from, but not her. So…where on earth did she get the idea? And oh geez, is she going to get in huge trouble? This can't be good. I shake my head trying to keep calm and question her, "Why did you do that?"

She gives me a small scared shrug and whispers, "Because I wanted to show them that President Snow's a meany like Daddy said he was."

Gale! God, why the hell did he tell her that? It's one thing for him to actually do it in his private session; it's quite another to tell Kennie that and give her the chance to do it too. Or did he give her the idea… "Did Daddy tell you to do that?" I ask her, the anger seeping into my tone even though I was trying to keep it out.

She shakes her head, "No." I relax a little at that; good, at least that's one less thing I have to be mad at Gale for. Though I'm still mad he told her his intentions. But if he didn't tell her to do that, then that means that she came up with this on her own. I mean I knew she didn't like Snow (although I guess Gale and I could have had something to do with that) and I know she's smart and well…stubborn, but how was it have supposed to have even crossed my mind that Kennie would come up with something like that?

Kennie looks suitably scared and guilty at this point, and beneath my hands on her shoulders I can feel her trembling a little. With a sigh I crush her to me and her arms go around my neck like vices as the tears fall. I try to shush her tears and that's when I realize that we have an audience, and they heard every word of this. I look up to them and see that Cecilia looks half dreading, half somewhat impressed and Beetee as always looks calculating, thinking. Albert is just assessing the whole thing with wide eyes and almost…scared, though if it's of Kennie or just what this implies I don't know.

"Am I gonna be in big trouble?" Kennie mumbles into my chest, pulling back to look at me, waiting for an answer. I want to answer her, make her feel better, but I honestly don't know and that frightens me. I want to assure her though that it's alright though I really don't know but when I go to do so my words get caught in my throat and all I can do is just stand there in silence. Luckily Beetee isn't too scared to say something, anything at all.

"No one knows Makenna." he tells her in a quiet voice, walking over slowly to where we're standing. She pulls out of my embrace and closes the distance between them as Beetee gets down on one knee so that he's more at her level.

"Is Snow gonna get mad?" she asks him, wiping away her tears. Beetee looks at me as if to ask for permission to continue this conversation and I nod for him to do so, guiltily glad that I don't have to do it seeing as I can't get myself to speak at the moment.

"Probably." Beetee confirms to her, and then looks warily up to me again. "He might even want to talk to her. Alone." This makes me almost choke, the fear overtaking me completely as I think about that in horror. Beetee sees this and comes over to me as Cecilia goes to the spot that Beetee just vacated to hug Kennie, Albert still watching the whole thing in silence.

Beetee stands in front of me and I can't bring myself to look at him. All I can choke out in a broken voice is "Alone?" He nods solemnly, and then sighs.

"Yes. You know how these things work Katniss." Beetee reminds me. And I do; you piss off the President or try to go against what he wants, you pay for it. Granted when I shot the arrow at the Gamemakers in my private session nothing happened outside the arena, but that wasn't a direct thing to Snow; this is. And when you piss off Snow, he orders you to his office to talk, making you suffer through the stench of blood and roses as he threatens everything you love as if it is a polite, casual topic. And the thought of Kennie going in there, by herself…

Beetee looks thoughtful for a minute, studying Kennie before gesturing for her to come over. Curiosity overtakes her despite still being upset and she does, stopping in front of Beetee again. Beetee acts as if he's taking something out of his pocket though I don't see anything and quietly takes the bird on Kennie's necklace that Prim gave her (though I still don't have a clue where it came from as I didn't notice it until we were on the train) and presses his fingertip to it before letting it go, standing back up with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Now she won't be entirely alone." Beetee tells me, and I give him a confused look. "I just put a microscopic camera on it that we can watch the whole thing from."

I open my mouth in utter surprise though I'm still kind of confused. Though I guess it makes sense in a way, and I can't see a better option at the moment. At least now we'll know if Snow harms or says something to upset her and we'll know exactly what it is. And no sooner than I give Beetee a grateful thank you the peacekeepers come marching in.

Gale's POV

Like father, like daughter? What the…what the fuck did Kennie do? She told me that she was going to do the bow and snares, and yeah I did that too but somehow I don't think that's what they were talking about. And if they weren't talking about that….well then what the fuck did she do? With dread I think back to what happened. How she was thoughtful and quiet. How she got up right away with a determined look on her face when they called her name. How I got called in before her time was up and the Gamemakers looked flustered and surprised. All of a sudden I'm filled with dread, not for myself but for whatever the repercussions of whatever the hell Kennie did will be.

So naturally it doesn't surprise me that when I come out of the Training Center Katniss is waiting for me clearly pissed off. What does surprise me is that she's alone, but maybe she sent Kennie upstairs and came back down to tell me what just happened. Another surprise is when she comes up to me and gives me a hard slap on the face.

I rub it and look at her in confusion and say more in shock than in anger, "What was that for?" I mean I get that Kennie probably did something bad but that doesn't have anything to do with me.

"Why the hell would you tell her what you were doing?" Katniss half yells, half hisses.

"What? I didn't-" I begin but cut myself off when I realize that I sort of did. Sure I didn't tell her specifics but I did tell her that I was going to basically give them a piece of my mind and show them that Snow was an evil bastard in her terms. But what does that have to do with what Kennie did? Or did she decide that she was going to do the same? Oh shit. Well that would pretty much explain everything, but what the fuck did she do? She's seven; it couldn't have possibly been that bad. But with dread I realize that whatever the hell it was, it probably was bad.

"We'll talk about this later." Katniss glares at me, taking my hand and leading me somewhere with a determinedly pissed but equally worried expression plastered on her face.

"Where are we going?" I ask her, stopping her leading by standing still. She still tries to move me by pulling on my hand but I'm stronger than her and hold my ground easily, much to her frustration. I quirk my eyebrow to ask her to explain something or I'm not moving from this spot. With a frustrated noise, she turns back to me and tells me what Kennie did.

Despite the dread and fear that I feel from what Kennie did, I'm impressed with it too. I mean come on, how many seven year olds think to do that? I mean granted she's not your average seven year old, what with us training her and her coming to the Capitol every year but still. I can't find it in myself to hide the little bit of pride I feel for her. That's my little rebel. Sure it wasn't quite as flashy or as complicated as what I did, but it still got the point across pretty damn well even if that wasn't her actual intent. Katniss takes my hand again and leads once again to wherever she was trying to take me before and I let her this time. But when we get in an elevator I've never been in and she presses the floor Subzero G, I finally say something.

"Where are we going?" I question her. I didn't even know there was a subzero floor G, let alone why we're going there. I mean sure I know that the hospital is on a subzero floor in the Training Center but I never gave much thought as to how many others there are let alone what was on them.

"We're meeting Beetee." she bites back, clearly still mad at me.

"What for?" I question, baffled. For one Beetee's on the third floor of the Training Center, not a subzero level. For two I have no clue what Beetee has to do with any of this. For three…well, what the fuck does Beetee has to do with this?

Katniss avoids answering me at first, and I think that it's either a stupid question (even though it isn't) or she's too mad to tell me. But when she finally does look at me, the anger is still there but I can see the dread, the fear, and the panic too.

"They took her to Snow." she whispers, her voice cracking as I see her eyes start to water. Despite everything I feel at this moment that pretty much matches what she feels, I try to comfort her, pulling her to me to crush our bodies together as if that would keep either of us from falling apart at the thought. And despite being mad at me for my triggering this, she comes gratefully as she uses it to pull herself together. It still doesn't explain the Beetee thing, but I decide to just not ask that right now. There are more important things to think about anyway. Like what the fuck is Snow going to do to our daughter?

As the elevator dings open Katniss makes herself pull out of our embrace and takes my hand again without looking or speaking, leading me around the darkish hall. She studies the numbers on the doors, clearly never having been down here herself and once she gets to a number she knows she turns down the hall that is directly after it, counting doors. When she gets to the ninth door that is unmarked, she twists the doorknob and opens it. To my half surprise Beetee is there fiddling with some equipment, a screen in front of him that is currently only running static. With a brief look up as acknowledgement he goes right back to work.

"Almost there." he assures us, but I still have no clue what the hell is going on. Until the screen goes from static to flipping between black and an image before coming clear and I see Snow's wicked polite smile looking back at us, but from a weird angle. Just seeing him on that screen makes me almost believe that I can smell his god awful scent and it makes me choke even if it's purely mental. That's when I figure out on my own what's going on with Beetee. The technology man has gotten a camera in that office somewhere (I suspect literally on Kennie, probably small and hidden) and we're about to watch the live feed of Snow's 'chat' with our rebellious seven year old.


	35. Targets

Gale's POV

"Miss Hawthorne," Snow begins, his snake like eyes trained on his most recent target to terrorize; my almost seven year old daughter. You would think that even Snow would let things slide at her age, but let's be honest; Snow's a fucking bastard who has no limitations when it comes to terrorizing. "Do you know why you're here?"

There's a brief pause before Kennie's voice comes out of nowhere (pretty much confirming my suspicions that the camera is on her), "Because I'm in big trouble." Well that's certainly true enough, and Snow confirms that with a nod and a slightly amused expression.

"Yes my dear girl, yes you are." Snow replies, "Now tell me; did you know that you would be in trouble for what you did?"

"Only a little." Kennie states, the camera moving as I think she shrugs, "I didn't think that anyone would get that mad cause Daddy said he was gonna do something too." Oh great, blame me. I go to roll my eyes but Katniss seems to realize what I'm about to do and hits me on the chest without looking away from the screen; her own way of warning me to shut up and pay attention.

"He certainly did." Snow muses, clearly pissed off which I'm satisfied with. Good, I wanted him to be anyway. It was part of the point of that whole thing to piss off Snow, show him how incredibly stupid and horrible this move was. Well, if it bites him in the ass at least he can't say that I didn't warn him-or Kennie for that matter. "But I assure you he will pay for that." Oh goody the punishment. What's he going to do, kill me? Gee that's so different from the original plan. Give me a bad training score? Probably. Or he could do the opposite; make me a target with a high score. It's sort of what happened to Katniss with her 11 but that really wasn't the intent. Not that it actually matters too much anyway because I can't see Snow allowing sponsor gifts to come to us even if we have the money and really, that's what the scores are mostly for. "What I would like to know is why you did it, and not because your father told you too." Oh great, him too? Why are people always assuming that I put her up to this? I wouldn't…okay, maybe I would, but I didn't this time!

"It was my idea." Kennie protests, and while Snow doesn't look entirely convinced that it was he lets her continue speaking, "And I did it because…"

"Because why Miss Hawthorne?" Snow asks, his eyebrows raised, "You can tell me the truth, I assure you."

"Because…because it's not fair!" Kennie claims, and Snow actually laughs at that.

"My dear girl, life isn't fair. I would think that you would know that by now." Snow states, clearly less angry than amused at this point.

Kennie, however, does seem mad that he's laughing at her. "It doesn't mean that you have to be a meany to everyone."

"A meany?" Snow asks, now half annoyed. Well, it's better than the laughing. Plus I'm pretty proud of her for telling him what he is. Katniss, I, Finnick, and many others may be too scared to tell this sick man who he really is but a seven year old girl can. Makes you wonder who raised her to have that much guts…oh right, us. That's what Snow gets for ordering the two of us to have a kid.

"Yes." Kennie confirms stubbornly. Snow just studies her for a minute, long enough for all of us in this room listening and watching this conversation to be uneasy.

"I'm going to get her." Katniss finally says.

"Katniss, you can't take her out of the meeting. It will only make things worse." Beetee protests rationally.

"Well I can at least wait outside the door for her! And I'll be right there if he tries to even touch her." Katniss half yells. Well she has a point.

"Go. I'll stay here and watch her." I tell her and with a fleeting thankful glance she leaves the room quickly.

"Interesting." Snow finally says, his head resting on his fist as he thinks. "Miss Hawthorne, I believe that you are the first person to ever tell me what you truly think of me. Can you guess why?"

"Because people are scared of you." Kennie answers.

Snow nods at that. "Yes that's true. And they should be, but do you know why?"

"…No." Kennie replies, and I have to say I'm amazed I haven't heard the fear in her voice once this entire time. Maybe it's because Snow's not…yelling or anything. The way he goes about threatening people in a polite, almost creepy way is far worse than any yelling. If you just heard his tone you would expect that he could just as easily be talking about the weather. But I guess Kennie is too young to see how more harmful that tone can be than yelling.

"Because Miss Hawthorne, I have power. I have power to do whatever I like whenever I like, and that does in fact scare people, rightfully so." Snow explains eyes boring into her as he tries to truly scare her now. But somehow I don't think it's working; the camera isn't shaking or anything and that's what I have to go by if I can't see her face.

"You can do anything you want?" Kennie asks, more curious and pressing than scared. What the hell is she getting at?

"Of course." Snow exclaims, clearly not knowing where she's going with this any more than I do.

"So you can let everyone go home that are going in the Games this year? Send us home and leave us alone?" Kennie almost pleads. I think it's safe to say that Beetee and I are as shocked by her statement as Snow is, but the difference is that I'm proud of her and Snow looks somewhere between angry and amused. Probably another first for him-someone asking him to end the Games.

"I could, but that will not happen, I assure you." Snow assures her, anger in his tone now.

"Why not?" Kennie asks, but I can hear the fear creeping into her voice now that she can tell he's mad.

"Because I have to punish those who think that they can fight me, mock me, go against my power." Snow argues back in an even tone but his eyes wickedly glaring. "Where did you get that necklace you have on."

What? That's an odd question. I look to Beetee to see if he thinks the same which I'm sure he does, but strangely he looks almost…dreading. Did Snow figure out that there's a camera on it?

Kennie touches the necklace for a second and the camera is blocked, but we still hear her answer. "Aunt Prim gave it to me before we left."

"I see." Snow's voice says, "And do you know what the bird on that necklace is?" While the camera is still blocked, it does shake so I'm guessing that she's shaking her head. "A phoenix, Miss Hawthorne. A phoenix represents the rebellion that I wish to obliterate. And of course a phoenix can rise from the ashes, but I assure you that you are no true phoenix and neither is anyone else they wish to use for their purposes."

Phoenix?... Rise from the ashes?...Oh my fucking god, a rebellion. That's what Finnick was talking about I bet! It makes sense now! The breakout, the get as many people out as they can, the necklace representing that Kennie is…wait Kennie is what? They can't want her as a leader or something, she's a little girl! But who is they? I glance over to Beetee and he's shaking his head, clearly not happy that Snow knows this. Which means he knows something obviously.

"Beetee-" I start, but he cuts me off.

"Not now Gale." he bites back so in a tone so harsh for him that I turn back to the screen.

"…huh?" Kennie answers, clearly knowing even less than I do. She lets go of the necklace and the camera comes clear again, Snow looking rather content now.

"You may go Miss Hawthorne." Snow orders. "Oh and please remind your parents that I always win these kinds of games." Why that fucking…well guess what you bastard? Like hell I'm letting you win this one, rebellion or no rebellion.

Katniss's POV

As I get dressed in the mostly modest black dress that Cinna left for me for the interviews, I somehow think that it's appropriate given Snow's most recent warning to us. That he always wins these games. And if he wins this game, then that would mean that I lose both Gale and Kennie instead of the best case scenario where I only lose Gale. And trust me, that's not winning either. So looking like I'm going to a funeral instead of the interviews seems appropriate. I can't see a way around it, especially with their training scores.

We knew Snow was angry, but we had no idea what that would entail for the training scores based off their stunts in the private sessions. After Kennie's talk with him we were pretty sure that they were going to be targets, but what we didn't know was just how obvious Snow was going to make that. Kennie and Gale made history that night with their scores, being that they have never been given as a training score before. Kennie received a 12, something so obviously making her a target on purpose that people are probably not wondering anymore that she was reaped on purpose, though they probably wonder what on earth she did. And Gale also made history…with a big fat zero. When it came up he actually laughed, but I just buried my head in my hands, dreading what is to come. A zero may be the lowest score ever, but it doesn't make him any less a target than Kennie's 12. Maybe more so, because people may realize that he did something to piss everyone off in his private session and his intent is not a secret to save Kennie. Heck, a zero wasn't even on the scale-that's why no one would expect it. As if they weren't targets already.

Since we had the next day to help them prepare for the interviews and that wasn't really necessary, we told Effie that we wouldn't need her to help. To my surprise, she wasn't annoyed or angry at all; in fact, she looked almost glad, and flitted off immediately with little explanation. I still have no clue what that was about, but I decided to ignore it for the day. Since this was most definitely our last day together to be a family, we decided to order a bunch of food and took it up to the roof, where the three of us spent the whole day. It's certainly not our woods by a long shot, but no one bothered us and we had a nice time despite where we are and what would happen in two days.

That night also was going to be the last night for Gale and I to be a couple for sure, since either way he's not coming out of that arena and we both know it. Besides the fact that he needs sleep tomorrow night so it only made sense for tonight to be our last real night together. We made love slowly, sensually, committing each other to memory in a deep, molten passion. Afterwards I could feel the tears on both our faces, though I don't know if Gale was actually crying or if it was just my tears on him. It could have been both for all I know.

With a sigh I look in the mirror at the finished look I'm in and decide with a shrug that I really don't care what I look like so I shouldn't be judging. And besides, if this is the precursor to the real funeral I don't have to hide what I feel. I go out to wait for Gale and Kennie and Gale comes first, dressed in a black suit. Oh great, he looks like he's going to a funeral too; guess I know what Cinna's vision was for tonight. It might get him into some deep water, but somehow it's probably the right way to go. It pretty blatantly shows how we feel tonight anyway. Gale wraps me in his arms from behind and gives my head a gentle kiss while we wait for Kennie.

When I see Cinna coming around the corner, I fully expect for Kennie to be dressed similar to me but I'm in for a shock. I'm immediately tense and angry and I can sense that Gale is too by the way his body stiffens. I glare at Cinna in disbelief and he puts his hands in the air as surrender with a frown on his face.

"Snow's orders." He tells us, obviously annoyed. Snow ordered this? As if this whole thing couldn't get any worse, he has to mock us too?

Kennie is dressed in what would have been her birthday party dress for the party held in Snow's mansion every year. This year it's a light blue dress with a gold seven on it, and she has a gold headband and gold shoes to match. It's in such a contrast to the funeral clothes that Gale and I are wearing that I have to wonder if Snow figured out that was the original plan and decided to turn even that on us. Because what it looks like is that we are at her funeral. And the very idea that he's mocking us with this…his goal is obvious. That Kennie will never have a seventh birthday party because she won't win. That she won't even turn seven because her birthday is on the third day of the Games and she won't make it that far. What he's saying is that we will fail, that he always wins.

When Effie comes out, all of us are still silent. She studies us with an almost content look until she comes to Kennie and frowns.

"Cinna, that wasn't part of the plan." she tuts, clearly annoyed. Wait, what plan? Was this funeral thing Effie's idea? Somehow I can't see that, but apparently it is. Wonder what that's about.

"Snow." Cinna explains again, and Effie shakes her head.

"Fine." she huffs, "We can work with it. Time to go everyone!"

Work with it? Work with what? Instead of asking I take one of Gale's hands in mine and one of Kennie's in the other, following Effie to the elevator. When it's time for us to part I kiss them goodbye and follow Effie. Cinna waves goodbye but says to Kennie.

"Remember what I told you?" he asks her and she nods. What is that about? I give him a confused look and he just puts a finger to his lips and shakes his head. Wait what? Later he mouths to me and I let out a huff of frustration. First Effie, now Cinna? I think the goal of tonight is to not tell Katniss anything.

When I'm sitting in my seat waiting for the show to begin, I'm fidgeting, not able to sit still. Nelia pats my arm to try to calm me but it's not really working. Strangely, most of the mentors are wearing either black or gray except for most of the Career mentors. Maybe they are acting like it's a funeral too? After all, Gale isn't the only Victor that will be up there and there are so many little kids too. Maybe this is a sort of defiance among us that we are all losing friends, that little kids who should be playing and going to school are being sent to their deaths tomorrow. Whether it's just a coincidence (not likely) or a stand, it most definitely shows the whole of Panem that Victors stick together no matter what. Our own form of a small rebellion, though it's not likely to do anything at all but make Snow mad.

And incredulously as the neon green haired Ceaser calls the tributes up to the stage, I think that our little rebellion is going to be overshadowed. Or maybe not overshadowed so much as complimented, added to the blatantly obvious one onstage. Because every single tribute on that stage is dressed in black aside from Kennie. Every single person on that stage looks like they are going to a funeral-their own. No one cheers or smiles. No one waves to the crowd. Every last one of them stands there in silence before they sit, some frowning, some of the kids crying. It even unnerves Ceaser, and the crowd is whispering among themselves, clearly affected by this funeral stand. If Effie planned this, I have no doubt that this is probably the greatest stand someone could do to show how we truly feel. Wow, Effie on our side; never thought I'd say that. And I have to keep a smile back because it would look horrible as I figure out what this means.

Snow may think that he can choose the targets, and he can. What he doesn't realize is that those targets can target others that can have an effect on him; his own people.


	36. Intentions

Gale's POV

Considering that we all look like we're at a funeral, I'm pretty damn excited for how this interview night is turning out. I mean, really, you would think we planned it. The black funeral clothes (minus Kennie because of the bastard). The unsmiling, uncooperative tributes with some crying instead of sucking up to the Capitolites. And now the interviews that are getting rolling now, with every Victor basically attacking the Capitol, the Games, Snow (indirectly) and the kids crying that they just want to go home to their moms. I certainly didn't plan this, but I bet someone did. Whoever it was is a fucking genius but I hope they realize how Snow will react if he finds out.

For the first time, I actually pay attention to all the interviews, watching to see who is doing what. I would have thought that Cashmere and Brutus wouldn't be a part of this little plan, but I think they might be. Cashmere talks about her 'love' for the Capitol as well as all the other Victors' love for them and what a shame it is that so many won't be able to be loved anymore. Brutus is obviously the least helpful with this attack, but he does mention how Victors help make other Victors and it will be extremely difficult to do without us. Finnick does a poem to his true love in the Capitol (yeah right) which has the effect of every woman in the audience (and surprisingly some men) swooning. Duncan talks about how these Games aren't even legal techinically because of the rules of the tributes are strictly between the ages of twelve and eighteen and no one here in fact is. Johanna says that they could cancel the Games if they wanted to but that's not likely to happen because some people in the Capitol (a blatantly obvious attack at Snow) don't want to. It goes on and on and each time I get more confident it's working.

By the time I'm up after the little boy from District 11, the audience is sort of a wreak. They're crying, calling for a change, telling us not to go. I could be the good little tribute and stop this attack, but let's be honest; I can't even lie to myself on that one and no one here expects me to be. My intentions are pretty damn obvious anyway and that will most definitely pull on their heartstrings even more.

Ceaser seems to know this too because even though he's smiling as I come up, I can easily see the dread hiding behind his mask at doing my interview. Good, all the better.

"So Gale, welcome to the stage once again!" Ceaser begins.

"Well it's not exactly a reason why I would have wanted to be up here." I begin, much to the audience's astonishment but Ceaser doesn't seem surprised if not trying to sink into his chair at how difficult I'm going to make this for him to spin it around to something good.

"Perhaps not considering all the other reasons you've been up here." Ceaser tells, "The proposal, the wedding talks, the baby revealings and all the party gossip of course.

Well damn, he was able to spin that one. He's definitely a much better host than even I assumed. But I'm not anywhere near done yet. "Well, the thing is we all know that I'm not coming out of these Games."

Whispers among the audience, but no one seems surprised by it like I assumed. Just…not liking it.

"So you have no confidence at all in your winning these Games? Despite your zero in training, you are certainly a fit and healthy young man." Ceaser protests.

"Of course I'm not winning. I don't think it comes as a surprise that my full intent is to keep Makenna alive no matter what." I state, "And the zero in training was because I showed the Gamemakers exactly what that means and they didn't like it." I know you're not actually allowed to say what happened in training but it's sort of only half true and there aren't any specifics in that explanation. Either way, I don't give a shit if anyone knows. I'm already a target anyway.

"A very bold goal if I do say so myself." Ceaser replies, but that's not good enough for me.

"Ceaser can I ask you a question?" I ask, and he looks a little taken aback but gestures for me to go ahead. "Do you have any children?"

"I love children, but no, I do not have any of my own." Ceaser exclaims, clearly dreading where I'm going with this but the audience doesn't appear to know. They're on the edge of their seats, on the edge of a cliff that will create chaos with a few more pushes. And I intend to bring them right to the very edge if not over it.

"I thought not." I give a half smirk, and Ceaser looks taken aback by this. "If you did you wouldn't need an explanation of why that's my goal and why I'm going to accomplish it."

Ceaser looks ready to reply but I'm not done yet. I turn to the audience and ask them a question for once. "How many of you are parents? Uncles, aunts, grandparents?" Most of the audience raises their hands like I suspected. "What would you do for them if you were going into a death match with them? Would you really put your life above theirs? Would it really be worth it to live when someone who had so much life ahead of them died for you to live?" I can see the guilt creeping in and the cries beginning, but I'm not done yet. "No, you wouldn't. And though your family will be torn apart like mine, you know that you're doing the right thing. The only thing really." I find Katniss in the audience and see that she's on the brink of a full on break down but she bites her lip and nods for me to continue. "The one thing I always tell my tributes is that underestimation can decide whether you live or die. Anyone who has a child realizes that you should never underestimate the protective instinct for a parent to their child. Which is why I'm certain that no matter what I'm going to do this. It's the most important thing in the world and nothing and nobody can prevent me from accomplishing it."

The buzzer rings which is barely audible above the cries and outrage from my interview, and I dismiss myself to go to my seat, taking Kennie in my arms and kissing her forehead before she goes up onto the stage, feeling pretty damn confident that I got the point across. She gives a sad smile to Ceaser and waves at the audience. Ceaser takes a different approach than me with her, gushing about her 12 in training and how everyone adores her. He finally gets to her stupid dress and says how cute she looks in it.

"Thank you. It's my birthday dress but I'm wearing it now because…" Kennie starts, but stops herself and looks to me confused if she should go on. I honestly have no clue where she's going with this so I nod, but Ceaser cuts her off.

"Oh my dear girl, if your father has anything to say about it you will still get your party and wear a new dress." Ceaser replies, trying to lighten the mood even with the dark undertones to what he's saying.

"No, it's not that." Kennie shakes her head. "President Snow made me wear this because he doesn't want me to turn seven so he wants me to wear it now." Shock goes through the crowd and even my mouth drops. Well damn, we were all skimming around attacking Snow personally but there she goes directly blaming him for something awful. I don't think I've ever been so terrified for her or proud of her at the same time before.

And for once Ceaser doesn't even know how to respond to something. He looks hesitant and Kennie waits for him to say something, but when he doesn't she looks into the crowd at the designer section before turning back. "And even though I had to wear this, I have another special dress on. Do you want to see?" All Ceaser can do is nod even though he probably shouldn't and she gets up and begins to twirl. To my panic and horror the dress is on fire, burning her. I get up immediately from my seat and several other Victors do too, half rushing to the stage before we realize that it's just burning the dress away, not her. What she's left with is a dress of red, yellow, and orange feathers, the ashes of her birthday dress left on the ground. And after that talk with Snow, I realize exactly what Cinna has turned her into, a bird born of fire that comes up from the ashes.

"You're a phoenix." Ceaser blurts out, half in awe and half terrified. He obviously knows a deeper meaning into it, but when he recovers he pretends he doesn't. "Well I must say that is the flashiest thing we have ever seen on this stage. I think Cinna should take a bow, don't you?"

When Cinna stands up and takes a small bow with a slight smirk on his face, I realize that he's a part of this too. Of course he is. What surprises me is that all those years ago on the roof it was a mockingjay that he was being vague about, not a phoenix. So…what is this really? Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Katniss's POV

After last night's interviews, I half expected Snow to give in to the Capitolites' cries of outrage and cancel the Games, but of course that was too much to ask for. So this morning when Cinna came to wake Gale and Kennie at dawn for the Games, with a heavy sigh I got up with them (we all slept in the same bed again like we did the first night on the train) and forced them both to eat a big breakfast and lots of water. Kennie's hovercraft came first and I picked her up and squeezed her tight to me, wishing I never had to let her go. She held onto me like that too, but when Cinna with a sigh said that she had to leave now I put her down, told her I love her so much and watched her as Gale held me go to her hovercraft. To the arena. Gale's hovercraft would be coming in a few minutes and Portia gave us some privacy, which we took every last second of to say goodbye without words. I kissed and caressed him like it was the last time I would ever do so (which it is), desperate hands and kisses overtaking us. When the hovercraft came we held onto each other, wishing to never let go. But when Portia comes over to take him to the hovercraft, he kisses my forehead once and leans back, taking my face in his hands.

"I love you." he says to me, his voice close to breaking. I say it back through my tears and we share one last hard kiss before he sighs and lets me go with such a heavy expression. Long after the hovercraft left I'm still up on that roof, collapsed on the ground and feeling a heavy sadness mixed with a sort of numb feeling. Damn Snow for turning me into my mother when my father died. Of course that was an accident and this was certainly on purpose but still.

Eventually a few hours after the sun rose I feel hands on me, helping me up from where I am on the concrete surface of the roof. Nelia and Carper help me up and each take one arm to help me walk to the mentor room, not saying anything because there isn't anything to say. Every last person in Panem knows what's happening to me and I'm grateful that no one appears to attempt to make me feel better, even when we get to the Mentor Room. To my utter surprise and thanks, not even the Career mentors say anything, and most of them look at me with pity if not sadness. Not even Enobaria can find it in her to make a snide comment.

When I sit down I see that the viewing of the arena on the screen in front of me is already up, and with a sigh I realize that this is the first time I'm doing this alone. I've never mentored without Gale before and it's a strange feeling. I mean sure Nelia is here, but even she knows that she's more of a support system than a mentor giving the circumstances. Trying to make myself focus, I study the arena in front of me.

It's a circular arena, and it looks…well it looks like a target. There are rings of land that are separated by rings of water, the edge of the arena being water as well and each ring of water the same size even as you get futher away from the bulls eye; the golden Cornucopia. In the rings of land are different landscapes; the first from the Cornucopia a desert, the second a jungle, the third a forest, the fourth a beach, and the fifth hills and almost mountains with cliffs that are on the edge of the final ring of water. It's such a strange landscape that I don't even know where to begin to figure out what it's about, but I do know that that forest is the best bet to go to. Of course that means that every tribute knows this is where they will be, but still. To my confusion, there are two suns in the sky on opposite sides of the arena. Usually there is only one 'sun' so that tributes can tell time by it, but I guess to no avail in this arena. That will prove to be difficult, but it's not entirely unmanageable.

I study the arena for the next half hour or so, but when it's five minutes before the tributes come up from the tubes I abandon trying to do anything but stare at the blank screens in front of me, filled with equal dread and anticipation at seeing Gale and Kennie again. It's most definitely the longest five minutes of my life, but soon enough they are coming up from their tubes and I hold my breath. Gale is between two of the kids and Kennie is between Seeder and Brutus. Gale looks ready, finding Kennie in the circle of platforms before quickly studying the Cornucopia and then the surroundings. I know he's going for the Cornucopia even if I don't really want him to, but it really is the only way to ensure supplies. The plan is for Kennie to run in the direction of the sun away from the Cornucopia and Gale will catch up with her when he can. Having two suns will prove difficult, but seeing as she will most likely run for the one closest to her I hope it's not too big of an issue. Kennie looks…well she looks scared and shaken, which is understandable but what I don't understand is why she already has a bloody fingerprint on her shirt. What's that for?

But I quickly abandon that thought as the timer counts down and I grip my chair for dear life as it counts down.

5

4

3

2

1

Everyone races, some for the Cornucopia and some for the arena. Kennie starts to run for the sun but then gets confused as she sees the other and stops. By this time Brutus has picked up a knife that was about ten feet from his platform and is ready to throw it at her.

"Run Kennie!" I scream at her through the screen, but Brutus has already thrown the knife. So much for the whole we'll stick together stand yesterday. As the knife flies Kennie freezes instead of running or dropping to the ground. And then her face screws into one of horror.

Seeder had not gotten very far and saw Brutus's intentions obviously, so she threw herself in front of Kennie, the knife imbedding in her back and making her fall to the ground instead of hitting Kennie.

"Run child, run!" Seeder chokes out, and Kennie forces herself to listen and runs for the nearest sun into the arena. I can't believe that Seeder saved my little girl and it will certainly cost her life. She's officially my new favorite tribute of all time.

Brutus realizes that there's really no use going after Kennie without a weapon so he runs for the Cornucopia again, where Gale is currently battling Cashmere with only a knife. He cuts her leg enough that she loses her balance and he takes the backpack and grabs the bow. I'm watching him so intently that Nelia has to push me to get my attention.

"Katniss!" she yells, exasperated and panicked. I turn away from the screen to question her but she points to the center screen with a look of horror and then Kennie's. Some of the Victors have already gotten in and out of the Cornucopia, and they are running for the arena with weapons ready. Right in Kennie's direction.

Kennie keeps running but the District 5 Victor, Electra, is far too close for comfort. And she has a spear. And comes through the bush right by Kennie with it aimed right at her, her intent clear.

Oh god, I feel like I'm going to die.


	37. Grateful

Katniss's POV

As Electra throws the spear, I freeze where I am. I can't make a sound, can't call for her to duck, run, do anything at all as the spear comes in her direction. But oddly enough…it's not aimed right. In fact it's several feet to her right as she does drop to the ground, safe and sound. What's going on? I don't fully understand until Electra gasps and looks down at the trident embedded in her stomach.

"Kennie!" Finnick cries, going over to my daughter and pulling her up into a hug. Kennie is crying but she seems to know that everything's alright somehow. But Finnick…he was…and he…could this all be a trick? He was so awful to us during the last week. Could he have just killed Electra so the Careers could have her? I shudder at the thought. It just doesn't make sense that Finnick of all people would do that.

"Get away from her you stupid Career!" Electra gasps. Wait what? So she was aiming at Finnick! To…save Kennie? What's going on here? First Seeder, now Electra.

"You can't tell me that you really bought that." Finnick replies with an eyebrow quirked in surprise and disbelief. "Don't you know how close I am to them? I would never in a million years betray them."

"But what about…train…training?" Electra chokes out through the blood coming up, as it's evident that she is slowly dying from his trident.

"I needed to get supplies so I had to trick Cash and Brutus." Finnick answers, "And I barely did that." he mumbles as he walks over to her, holding Kennie's hand to pull her over too but she's frightened and stays put. Finnick sighs but leaves her there for now, crouching down at Electra's side and holding her hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to but I thought you were going to kill her."

Electra nods and lets out one light chuckle. "I'm sorry too. I was stupid enough to fall for that." She pulls out his trident with a grunt and the blood starts seeping out, but she doesn't go to stop it. I'm assuming she's just wishing that the pain ends soon, as she closes her eyes and Finnick helps her lay back on her back. "Hey Finn?" she whispers.

"Yeah?" Finnick replies.

"Make her win." Electra says softly but boldly.

Finnick gives her a sad smile with hard eyes. He glances over to Kennie before he comes back to her. "I intend to." Electra nods before she closes her eyes for the last time, her last breath leaving a smile on her face at Finnick's promise. I however, am crying. I can't believe…they all (or at least some of them) have obviously planned to give their lives for Kennie. I mean Gale everyone expected to do so, but not anyone else. I will never stop owing every last one of them, and the horrible thing is there's no way to help that.

Finnick lets go of Electra's hand with a sigh and picks up his trident to wipe off the blood with some leaves before coming slowly back to where Kennie is sitting on the ground hiding her face in her hands. Clearly this day has already been too much for such a little girl, even one who is not your average almost seven year old. It makes me want to hold her and tell her it's alright, but she's knows it's not alright and I can't do that right now which frustrates me to no end. Instead, Finnick tries to do just that. He gently pries Kennie's hands away from her face and wraps his arms around her where she's sitting, and she buries her face into his chest and cries some more. He shushes her and tries to calm her down for a few minutes before looking around and sighing.

"Kennie, we have to move." Finnick tells her gently but forcefully.

"I don't wanna." She shakes her head and Finnick tries a different approach.

"We have to find your Daddy. Don't you want that?" he asks, and after a pause, she nods. "Alright then, let's go." He helps her up and brushes off the dirt from her shirt before taking her hand in his and starting to walk in the direction she was already headed. After about twenty minutes though, he obviously thinks that they aren't going fast enough so he picks her up and starts on a light jog.

Knowing and trusting that Kennie is safe with Finnick for now, I go back to watching Gale's screen. I panic a little when I see the blood on his shirt and hand, but realize that it's just some minor cuts and that he has supplies; a blue backpack, a bow and a full quiver of arrows, and miniature version of the bow and quivers obviously for Kennie. Not that either of us expect or will actually let her kill anyone with it, but it will be good to have for an extra layer of protection regardless. Frustratingly enough though, he's not going in the right direction. What's he doing? He knows that Kennie went in the direction of the sun, and though there are two suns he should have realized that she would go for the one closer to him.

I take another glance at the arena, and incredulously enough, I think I know where his problem lies. The suns…they aren't normal suns at all. Because instead of going in an arch in the sky like the real sun would do, the suns in the arena are moving horizontally in a circle. What, does this mean that they will never set? Will it always be daylight? Either way Gale obviously hasn't picked up on this yet, as he is going in the direction of the sun a good five miles off of the path that Kennie and Finnick are on. And it's not like I can tell him with a note or clue or something until tomorrow morning. Dang that stupid no gifts for the first 24 hours rule! Gale needs to get to Kennie. Not that I don't trust Finnick because I do; it's just that I trust Gale more.

For the rest of the afternoon I intently watch Finnick carry Kennie across the arena, mostly in the jungle ring that they will probably have to spend the night in. I would feel more comfortable if they were in the forest one, but I can't see that happening at least today. Gale is also in the jungle most of the afternoon, and has drifted a little further away from them as he follows the sunlight even though I can tell he's beginning to not trust it. About an hour before dusk though (so apparently there is night in the arena) when the two suns give way to two moons, Gale is obviously frustrated that he hasn't found Kennie yet but knows it's not safe to look for her in the dark so he sets up camp in a tree that he puts some snares around and waits impatiently for the death toll for the day. He has such a heavy, guilty expression on his face that I want to kiss it away, assure him that Kennie's alright and she's with Finnick (who of course isn't against us) but I can't do it. I can't do anything at all.

Kennie and Finnick have also settled down for the night, Finnick amused by Kennie setting a few snares like Daddy said before they also climb up a tree right before the anthem begins. Finnick leans against the trunk of the tree and Kennie sits in front of him as they watch the anthem come on in the sky.

The cannons going off earlier indicated that eleven people died in the bloodbath and there hasn't been any since then. I honestly wish I could tell you that I paid attention and know at least most of the people who died in the bloodbath, but I really only know that Electra and Seeder were two of them because in their own ways they were trying to save Kennie-one actually did and one was an honest mistake that cost her life. But come on, no one would blame me for not paying attention to anyone but my daughter and my husband/best friend, right? I thought not.

Just because Gale and Kennie are both in that arena doesn't make the death toll any easier to watch though. The first up is Wiress (which means that Cashmere and Brutus are actually using the kids from their disticts) and I instantly feel sorry for Beetee because I know they were good friends, but this also means that his nephew made it because the kids are shown first, then the Victor for every district. Next is the little girl from District 4, and I honestly feel sorry for her because she was just a child and I suspect that Cashmere or Brutus had a hand in that because of Finnick's betrayal to them. I feel guilty for that but if I feel guilty for every person who dies I'm not going to be able to focus on the real goal. The little boy from five is next followed immediately by Electra, and I do a silent District 12 salute to her from my seat in the Mentor Room for her intent to save Kennie.

The District 7 boy is next, which means both Duncan and the little girl from his District made it. Good, that means at least one good friend didn't die. Yet anyway. God this is so hard. The District 8 little girl is shown next which means Johanna's still in it (what a surprise), and then I'm hit with two little kids in a row, from 9 and 10. What is this? Who really has the heart to kill little kids? The only options I can think of are Cashmere and Brutus…well Gale always half jokes that Careers have no hearts. Maybe they don't after all.

The death toll finishes off with Angus, the Victor from District 10, the boy from 11, and Seeder (to which I do the salute to as well) before the anthem is shown again. Gale takes a deep breath of relief that Kennie is alive still, though I can still tell through his uncaring mask for the cameras that the deaths are hitting him hard too. And he doesn't even know that Seeder and Electra died for Kennie and we can never possibly repay them for that eternal debt.

After the anthem fades away, Finnick tells Kennie to go to sleep and she leans back, but doesn't close her eyes. She's staring at the sky with a thinking expression on her face before wiping away a stray tear that fell.

"Uncle Finn?" she says in a light, soft voice.

"Yeah Kennie?"

"I want to go home."

Finnick sighs and pulls her into a backwards sort of hug before kissing her hair and saying "We're gonna get you there soon. I promise."

Kennie drifts off into an uncomfortable sleep after that, and for a while I just watch her sleep. After a few hours Gale obviously gives up on sleep and watches the moon for a while until he realizes that it's not going in the directions it should. With a thinking expression he gets on his face only when he's thinking really hard, he finally smirks and I know that he's figured it out. Getting down from the tree and gathering up his supplies, he heads quietly in the direction where Kennie and Finnick are with night vision goggles from his pack on with new verve. I'm not entirely thrilled that he's walking around during prime Career hunt time, but it's not like he would stop anyway even if I sent him something to tell him to.

Carper comes over at some point and I assume it's just for Nelia, but then he reminds me that when tributes have allies the mentors team up. I shake my head at that, still feeling stupid. "I can't believe I ever fell for that act of Finnick's."

Carper chuckles, "Yeah, he said that it was going to be harder to convince you and Gale than Cashmere and Brutus, but apparently not. Although I know that he told Gale so I'm surprised you didn't know."

Told Gale…what? "Are you sure he told him?" I question Carper and he nods. Why didn't Gale tell me then? What was the point of making me worry sick for nothing?

"Yeah, he told him the first day of training." Carper informs me. Did he now? I send virtual daggers at Gale through his screen though of course he can't sense or see them.

"Why didn't he tell me?" I ask aloud, more just for myself than really asking the question. To my surprise, it's Chaff from the station over that answers me.

"For the same reason that no one else told you our intentions." Chaff informs me, and I give him an odd look. "Snow." he mouths. Snow? Well I understand that sort of, but not really.

"Why?" I ask. I can't fully understand the concept that all these people are willingly giving up their lives so that Kennie can live.

"He doesn't understand that Victors stick together. That we are a family and Makenna is part of that." Carper tells me.

"And it's like Gale said yesterday in the interview. We protect our children, we let them live because they deserve it." Chaff adds. "And if he had known that we had already chosen the Victor…"

"Then he wouldn't have let it happen." I finish, in awe of what's going on. The Victors (or at least some of them) have chosen Makenna as the Victor. Because we're an extended family. Maybe because it will piss Snow off to no end. Either way, I am eternally grateful and I can't even begin to think of a way to repay them for at least trying. Carper, Nelia, and Chaff nod in response, and I ask because I have to. I need to know how many people I owe for this.

"Who's a part of this?" Carper looks at Chaff as if asking permission, but Chaff shakes his head at him.

"It's better for you not to know." Chaff tells me, placing his hand on my shoulder to calm me. Too bad it's not working.

"Why not?" I ask, exasperated. If people are trying to save my daughter I think I have some right to know who they are.

"Because if he calls you in when he figures it out, you not knowing specifics will only keep you safer." Chaff explains and I huff. I kind of get it, but not really. I mean why can't I know? I can hide it from Snow if that happens…oh who am I kidding, I'm a terrible actress. But still…but still!

"Just let this happen the way it's supposed to." Chaff tries to calm me before going back to his station. The way it's supposed to? Why do I get the feeling that I have no clue what's really going on here? Why isn't anyone telling me anything? Probably because I'm a virtual mess with the two people I love most in that arena, and there's no telling what I will or will not do.

With that in mind, I watch Gale venture around looking for Kennie in the dark (luckily on the other side of the arena as the Career hunt) and make sure that Kennie's still alright sleeping, though she hasn't woken up yet from where she is on that tree branch with Finnick keeping watch. I ignore Nelia's request to go to sleep for a while with a glare, but she doesn't seem too hurt by my reaction. In fact, it almost seems like she expected it so I don't feel too bad. With a sigh she lets it go and goes to bed herself. I know she means well, but I can't just go to sleep while Gale and Kennie are in that stupid arena. I can't do anything but watch and hope against hope that they come out though I know it's impossible for them both to. And here I am again, watching people I love in the arena. Only watching…helpless. Wishing that I was in there instead even if that sounds irrational.

Around nine o'clock the next morning, Gale is hot on the trail of Kennie and Finnick. About an hour ago he had found the snares that Kennie had placed about a half mile away from where they camped out in the tree, and it brought a smile to his face for the first time in probably a while. Mostly because it means that he knows she's near there, but I suspect part of it is because she just showed all of Panem that she can do snares like him and he likes that. He's never told me that she's better at snares than archery but he doesn't have to. I know she is. I roll my eyes at him in the screen with a slight smile that he's too scared to tell me what I already know because he doesn't want to brag about it. I think it's a little late for that anyway.

He studies tracks and trees carefully, his ever silent step keeping him from being heard as he looks for her. Around an hour later he's maybe twenty yards from where Finnick is still keeping watch tiredly but Makenna's up too. They are at the base of the tree now organizing supplies and Finnick looks like he's deciding which way to go when he gets a panicked look on his face and with alarm, pushes Kennie behind him with a finger to his lips to silence her. He creeps near the bushes about ten feet away, trident aimed and ready. No don't throw it! It's Gale you idiot!

Gale is also on alarm and has his bow ready to shoot as I watch with dread. Are these two idiots really going to kill each other without even knowing it? God I hope not. Gale rushes the bushes and is about to let the arrow fly as Finnick is about to throw his trident when they finally see who it is they were on alarm for. Finnick stills his trident but it falls out of his hands and lands a few feet away. Gale's arrow still flies but he aimed it just enough that it wouldn't hit Finnick in the end, instead grazing by just a few inches away from Finnick's head and embedding itself in the tree behind him.

"What are you doing?" Finnick asks him.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Gale replies. Finnick goes to answer but he's cut off by Kennie.

"Daddy!" she shrieks running to Gale. He drops his bow and takes her in his arms wrapping her in a huge hug.

"Oh thank god you're alright." Gale breathes, stroking her hair and kissing her forehead.

"Uncle Finn found me." Kennie informs him, and Gale looks up to where Finnick is giving the whole scene a warm smile.

"Thank you." Gale exclaims to him, and it's weighted down with how much it truly means to him that Finnick kept her safe.

Finnick is about to reply with what would probably be a 'you're welcome,' but he cuts himself off as an earthquake rumbles through the arena, making the three of them crash to the ground as they lose their balance.


	38. Destroy

Katniss's POV

"What's going on?" Finnick asks through the rumblings. Good question. It seems the whole arena is shaking by the way that all the tributes still alive are in a similar situation as they are; confused and on the ground trying not to die courtesy of the Gamemakers. It's not until the center screen in the Mentor Room shows the mountain ring, the last ring of land that I understand.

The mountains are…well they're being destroyed. It's like the rock slide last year that produced no Victor, except this one is destroying the entire mountain ring and the water that was the last ring of the target arena slowly begins to cover it. In about fifteen minutes the mountains have turned to just rocks and dust covered by a sea of water, the arena now looking smaller somehow.

"Yes, folks, and there we have it; the marker of the first twenty four hours! As a special twist this year every twenty four hours a ring of land will be destroyed, from the outer ring in until there is no more left! What do you think of this twist Garius…" Claudius informs the audience as he is talking with one of the experts.

Destroy part of the arena everyday…there are only five rings of land and one has just been destroyed. Which means…they don't want these Games to last more than five days. They are going to push the remaining tributes closer and closer together every day, forcing them to fight each other and not hide. Which means that there is less time and less chance of Kennie coming home even if a ton of others have that as their goal. This is bad. Very bad.

You have to wonder is this was Snow's plan. It certainly seems like it could be. Though his usual forms of punishment try to destroy from the inside out, perhaps this is the easiest way to do so. After all, this is an arena in the form of a target. And making the target smaller every day only makes his real goal that much easier to accomplish. Shorten the time, weaken the chances, and the bull's eye will certainly be his soon enough. Because if all you leave is the true target, then practically nothing can stop you from getting it. It's too hard to miss, and it's coming far too soon for me.

In just four days time. It's not enough.

Gale's POV

"What just happened?" I question again once the shaking has stopped, pulling Kennie up with me from where I was protecting her from anything that may have fallen. Better me being hurt than her anyway.

"I don't know." Finnick replies. I don't even know why I asked. It's not like he has any better clue than I do. "But whatever it was it seems to be alright now. Let's get moving."

I nod in agreement and we gather up the supplies that we abandoned in our panic that have splayed around on the ground from their original positions but other than that don't look damaged. I hand Kennie the kid bow and quiver that I got for her in the Cornucopia (the reason for the deep scratch on my hand courtesy of Romal, but luckily I got away with only that) and she grins. After about five minutes of walking Kennie stops where she is.

"Wait! I didn't check my traps!" she exclaims in a half panic, and I have to grin.

"It's alright, we have to get going." I tell her and she frowns.

"But Daddy, you said to never leave one unchecked." She protests, and I give her a chuckle.

"You're right, I did. Which is why I checked them for you." I inform her, pulling some kind of tree rat about the size of a squirrel out of my bag and presenting it to her. Her face lights up at that.

"Did I get that?" she asks and with a prideful grin I nod. I always wanted a kid with my trapping abilities and I think I got one. She's certainly on her way to being just as good as me if not better anyway.

"Thanks for catching lunch Kennie." Finnick smiles at her, clearly still amused by something. Probably the fact that she set those snares last night and they actually got something.

BOOM!

We all freeze instantly, Kennie only half knowing what it means but Finnick and I looking at each other with dread, cringing at the loud cannon. Fuck, I forgot how horrible cannons sounded in the arena. It's one thing to be in the Mentor Room for ten years and hear them, you aren't actually there. Here we are, and we know it means that we've either just lost a friend or a little kid lost their life that shouldn't have.

"Who was that for you think?" Finnick asks after a moment of silence.

"I don't want to know." I reply quietly with a grimace, and we start walking again.

About an hour later we come to another river of sorts and we stop and study it. I've crossed two sort of rivers. The Cornucopia was in a grassy sort of circle and it was surrounded by a ring of water that was maybe six inches deep. I didn't really think about it because for one I was simply trying to get away so I could get to Kennie and two because it was right next to a sort of desert which I wasn't too thrilled about. But in the distance I could see trees of some kind so I raced through it. Before I got to the jungle though, I had to once again go through water. I didn't really think about that one either, just thinking that it was a river of some kind but I could tell it was shallow. I tested the water first and it seemed alright though only about up to my knees in depth so I quickly went through it and into the jungle. But a third river…this can't be a coincidence. What is this arena? I certainly have taken for granted knowing what the entire arena has looked like in all these years because it frustrates me to no end that I don't have a clue where I am or where I'm going. But on the other side of this is a forest, much like our woods back home. That's certainly a place I want to be if anywhere at all. Finnick thinks for a moment and then decides something.

"Have you noticed that every landscape that's different we've had to cross some water?" he asks me, studying the water.

"Yeah. The Cornucopia was in a circle I think and the water surrounding it was too." I reply.

"So…what is this? A circle?" Finnick questions and I shrug.

"Maybe. What's it matter though?" I ask and he shrugs back.

"It doesn't I guess. I just hate being blind." Finnick gives a halfhearted chuckle, and I know he's thinking the same thing I was earlier. It's weird to be back in and not know every piece of land.

"Me too." I agree.

"So should we go across?" He asks.

"I guess so. Those woods are better than this jungle anyway." I decide and he rolls his eyes.

"Yeah for you." Finnick chuckles, "I'll go first just to see how deep it is."

I nod in reply as he tests the water first before going in carefully. He is the best swimmer out of the three of us anyway so if it happens to be really deep he can tell us safer than we could do. It seems to be about three feet deep as he sort of wades through, the river only being about twenty feet wide. When he gets to the center however, he panics and screams, fighting his way to the other side while my mouth drops open in shock as I pull Kennie to me so that she doesn't go near that water.

"What's wrong?" I half yell in a panic. He doesn't answer right away, just shouts in pain again until he gets to the woods side and collapses on the ground holding his bloodly legs to him writhing in pain. My eyes go wide when I see all the sharp bite marks on his legs about an inch in width each.

"What is it Finnick? Are you alright?" I try not to panic. Alright, that second question was a little stupid because he obviously isn't but I still have to know what's going on. Obviously that water is nowhere near safe to pass.

"Piranhas." Finnick grimaces, trying to pull himself into a sitting position to assess the damage. Piranhas? Of course there are. Why would I think there would be a fucking jungle without some sort of horror? Piranhas aren't even a Gamemaker invention; they're a real fish that used to live in jungles and they prey on flesh. They bite. They destroy.

"What are we supposed to do then?" I question allowed. Like hell I'm going to let that happen to me or Kennie, but that forest is the best place for us to be. You have to wonder if they put the piranhas in our way of getting there on purpose. Finnick looks around between grimaces, obviously taking my question seriously even through his pain. After a few minutes he points towards something above me and I look up.

There are vines hanging from the trees of the jungle above me, and they are in fact very long and close enough to the piranha infested river to make it across if we hold on and swing from them. All it would require is to climb up one of the trees high enough that we wouldn't drop into the water and we might make it.

"Alright we'll give it a shot. Better than piranhas anyway." I tell him and he gives a regretful chuckle.

"Yeah wish I'd thought of that before I went through the fu..river." Finnick replies, stopping himself from cursing when he takes sight of Kennie. I'm used to watching it because I'm around her all the time, but Finnick isn't. Guess he'll get used to it. I snort at him and lead Kennie to one of the trees that we'll have to climb to get to the vines. I let her go first and I'm surprised by how easily she gets up, not quite in a straight line but almost zig-zagging until she's on a branch about 25 feet up.

"Where'd you learn how to climb like that?" I ask her from where I'm still on the ground. Katniss may be part squirrel but that's not how she climbs a tree, and yeah I would know that after fourteen years.

"Johanna told me to grab the biggest pieces of bark that I could reach when I climb trees." Kennie answers and I have to laugh. Yeah, maybe I should have learned from her too. Speaking of which, I know that Johanna and Duncan are still in as of last night. I really hope that the cannon that went off earlier wasn't one of them. Or maybe I do wish it was…after all, I don't want to be the one to kill them as horrible as the whole wish is. I don't want to kill anyone at all unless they're trying to get to Kennie. I have enough nightmares already of killing people. Although it's not like I'm probably going to live past this arena no matter what Finnick claims since he's given no indication since, so I guess it won't matter too much.

"Maybe I should have learned from her too." I muse as I begin to climb, and even from here in the arena I can feel Katniss glaring at me for that. Though if I assure her out loud that I'm just joking and I'm glad I learned from her people might think I'm crazy. Though by now they're probably wondering why the hell Kennie learned how to climb from Johanna when she's from another district. Probably destroys the image that Victors are always at war with each other every year because they are too focused on their tributes to care about anyone else. Well, besides maybe us and Finnick because of the photos and stuff, but still.

I tell Kennie that I'm going to try it first because if this is not safe I'm not going to let her be the guinue pig by any means. So with one long exhale to get myself ready, I grab onto one of the vines and wrap myself around it, the whole time praying that this actually works and I'm not going to end up piranha lunch meat. When I'm a good five feet away from the river on the other side I let go of the vine and hit the ground with an oof! God that fucking hurts. I groan in pain but I don't seem to have broken anything luckily. I make myself get up and my muscles are screaming but I steel myself to be calm and act like they aren't.

"Alright Kennie, you can come on now. I'll catch you." I tell her, barely keeping the pain out of my voice. I see her nod from the other side and swing across, letting go and I just barely catch her. It hurts my already sore muscles like hell, but she's alright so I can manage. I put her down and go over to Finnick, who has somewhat pulled himself together and is dressing his legs in bandages before he stands up. When he does he collapses again, holding his left leg to him with a grimace.

"There's a really deep bite on this one on my knee. I can only limp on it I think." Finnick grimaces in pain. Well that's just great. I groan and look around. I can't just leave him here; not after he found and protected Kennie all yesterday and last night.

"Do you think you could walk on it if I got you a walking stick?" I ask him. He nods and I go break a decent sized branch for that purpose off and break off any protruding twigs or branches and saw off a part of it so it's around the length it should be for Finnick. He struggles to get up and takes the stick, testing it out. He looks like he's trying to hide the pain but seems to be able to walk alright with it.

"Yeah I can manage. Let's go." Finnick insists. I sigh at him because I don't actually believe that we'll get that far, but choose not to say anything about it. Wouldn't want to hurt his pride after all. I mean really, what else do we have left in here? They've already promised to destroy our lives when they reaped us again.

Finnick's POV

Grimace step, step. Pain step, step. Don't think about it step step. Ow.

God those fucking piranhas really got me good. I swear to fucking god if those were Plutarch or Horatia's idea I'm going to kill them when we get out of here. Of course that means finding Duncan first so it can work. Of course that means that this fucking plan has to go off without a hitch or we're fucked. Well, we're dead either way so I guess it doesn't matter too much if it doesn't work, but we really need it too. And those stupid piranhas destroying my knee certainly isn't helping anything at all.

We've been walking through the forest most of the early afternoon, Gale carrying Kennie when she gets tired on her little legs. Though it's not the safest way to travel considering I'm hurt and holding her he can't really shoot the bow really well, we haven't come across anyone yet. We should be alright.

Around fifteen minutes later though, Gale stops in his tracks and silently puts Kennie down, looking around in alarm.

"What's wrong?" I whisper.

"Something's close." he whispers back, the alarm in his voice clear. If I hadn't known that he had hunters senses I would look at him strangely because I don't sense anything, but I trust his instincts more than mine in this forest. This is the kind of landscape that he and Katniss have practically lived all their lives while I've lived on an ocean. And the only water in this arena seems to be either very shallow or have those fucking piranhas in it so I decide to trust him.

"What should we do?" I say in a low voice, both Kennie and I looking to him for guidance. He looks at Kennie first and then to me, obviously weighing the options. We both know that I'm not going to be very helpful in a fight when I can't get the right stance for throwing my trident most likely, but we can't leave Kennie unprotected either.

He first puts his finger to his lips to indicate that we shouldn't talk anymore (whatever it is is probably close) and points up a tree. Kennie nods but I just look at him funny. Climb a tree? I mean I can obviously, but I don't know if I can at the moment. Besides the fact that it's probably not the best thing for him to be facing whatever this is alone, especially if it's the Careers. Cash and Brutus have be after him from second one and though he's a good fighter I'm not entirely sure he could take on both of them at the same time and live. But there really isn't another option at this point so with a nodding grimace that tells him I'll try I lead Kennie to a tree about ten feet away. She climbs first and I try to make my way up without making any noise from my pain. But I steal myself to do it and ignore the pain and somehow get up there, holding Kennie to me just so she doesn't do anything stupid while probably watching her dad fight. But she seems to know to be quiet and doesn't make a sound as she climbs up to the next branch, her eyes going wide when she obviously sees whatever Gale sensed. I look in that direction to and grimace, half from the pain but mostly because it's what I feared. Cashmere and Brutus followed by the two little kids from their districts that hold weapons that looks strange in their little hands and I narrow my eyes in anger. But it's not from the Careers that I'm pissed.

It's none other than Romal behind the four of them with a mace in hand, clearly a part of their little kill Kennie and destroy all our plans (that Cash and Brutus don't know about) pact that he does in fact know of. Fuck.


	39. Tricks

Gale's POV

"Well, well, well, look who we have here?" Cashmere taunts once she sees me with my bow nocked and aimed. I don't let up on my hard glare on her, hoping I can keep her attention on me so that she doesn't realize where Kennie is hiding. Because really, I'm sure that she's their real target; Careers tend to go for the weakest first. I'm not surprised to see Brutus come next nor the kids from their districts, but my glare falters a little when I see Romal of all people bringing up the rear. What the hell is he doing with the Careers? I mean I know he doesn't like me even after all these years but you have got to be fucking kidding me.

They stop about thirty feet from where I have my arrow aimed right at Brutus's chest, weapons loosely at the ready but other than that appear to want to put on a show first. Well if a show's what they want then at least I can stall. Maybe Finnick can get Kennie away somehow so she doesn't have to see this battle. I expected it to be two on one (because I'm not counting the kids) and that I could have possibly handled, but Romal's appearance has thrown me. I really don't see many ways out of this. "Where's Finnick?" I question them to stall time but also to see just how pissed they are at his betrayal.

Cashmere quirks her eyebrow, clearly pissed but amused at the same time that I'm asking. "Funny, we were going to ask you the same thing. Seeing as how close you are and everything."

"Are you kidding? After the shit he pulled all week you think I'd ally with him?" I question in disbelief. Come on please believe me. If they truly suspect that Finnick is here then they probably also suspect that he's hiding with Kennie. Which he is.

"Yes. We half suspected he was trying to trick us and I'm pretty sure after the way he scrammed from the Cornucopia towards your daughter he was." Cashmere answers a cocky grin on her face. Well shit she does suspect. I can't believe that they even let Finnick get out of the Cornucopia alive in the first place.

"What makes you think they're with me?" I ask, hoping to lead them off.

"Because of your intentions Hawthorne, you idiot. You wouldn't let her out of your sights for nothing." Brutus points out. Well, I guess that's half true. Though I didn't find her until this morning and I risked the Career hunt during the night to go find her. Speaking of which, why are they out hunting now this far into the arena? Normally they would just be starting or preparing at this time to go hunt again. But it's also half false because technically Kennie is out of my sights for the moment, but I know she's relatively safe with Finnick there despite how injured he currently is.

"You don't see her now, do you?" I point out, hoping this will lead them off. Let them believe that I haven't found her yet.

"She's here somewhere." Romal states with confidence, "The bow is missing."

"Are you blind? The bow is pointing right at you." I say incredulously.

"No I meant the kid bow." Romal shakes his head, "The one you fought me for at the Cornucopia. You don't have it anymore."

Well shit I forgot that I fought him for that. No, it's not that I forgot, I just never thought I'd have to face him and the Careers at the same time. Cash and Brutus develop knowing triumphant smirks on their faces after I hesitate to answer and I curse myself for doing that. Why did I not just deny it? Say something, anything at all?

"Alright so she's here." Cashmere states, "Oh Makenna! Come out come out wherever you are!"

Don't do it Kennie. Don't you dare do anything at all. They stare at me for a few seconds before looking around and Romal points to something behind them.

"There!" Romal declares, pointing to one of the brown kid arrows sticking at an angle from the ground that looks like it comes out of the trees. Shit Kennie why would you do that? But wait a minute…Kennie and Finnick are behind me and an arrow could not possibly come from that angle. I look where the rest of them are in confusion as they go over to look at it, but then Romal does the strangest thing. He turns around and looks back to around where I'm standing eyes going wide as he points to something.

I half expect it to be a trick but I look anyway just to be sure and my eyes go wide with panic too. Finnick and Kennie have quietly climbed down the tree and are slowly backing away from it. I give them an angry questioning look to which Finnick mouths tracker jackers back. Shit they were probably far too close to them and the only thing to do was to climb back down into the lion's den.

I glance back to Romal in utter confusion as to why he would point this out to me and not the others, who are still studying the arrow on the ground and looking to see the angle for where Kennie could be. He nods me away in the direction of Kennie and Finnick and puts a finger to his lips and I give him wide eyes in return. He wants me to escape with them? He's not going to let the Careers kill us? Why?

In the moment thought I don't care if it's a trick or not. Instead I give him a grateful look and silently run in Kennie and Finnick's direction and we run. I'm not entirely sure how Finnick is running until I look back down at his legs and see some sort of purple goo on them. Guess it's medicine or something. Fast acting too, like most Capitol medicine-he must have received a parachute when he was in that tree. As we run I hear a cannon go off and I can only hope that it was Cashmere or Brutus, but after Romal's strange helping I'm not so hopeful. Why would he do that? I thought he still didn't like me after all these years. Or is he part of whatever Finnick was talking about? Could that be enough to get past the hatred? Only time will tell.

Katniss's POV

I'm still in shock and complete awe of what happened. I mean what the heck is going on here? Romal was a part of this make Kennie the Victor plan? He doesn't like us and he was with the Careers! But…he obviously was.

When the Careers plus Romal showed up with only Gale there, I was dreading it horribly. In fact, I was glued in my seat with my eyes on the screen in front of me, not able to speak and barely able to breath. I couldn't believe that it would come down to this. I mean if it was just Cashmere and Brutus (plus the kids who I wouldn't count), he could have taken one down with an arrow and then fought the other because they would be too close to shoot at that point. But with three there…Gale didn't stand much of a chance, and who knows what Kennie would have done if she saw that even if Finnick tried to restrain her. I mean he was putting on the medicine quickly that we sent him (at a good time since he would probably be able to move quieter and more quickly now if something went wrong) but she's a sneaky little girl and I saw her aiming a nocked arrow at the ground to my dread. But it wasn't her arrow that Romal pointed at-strangely, it was one he placed there himself.

During that fight in the Cornucopia with Gale for the little bow and quiver, one must have either fallen out or Romal took it before Gale got away and he had it with him the whole time. When he was walking behind the Careers he obviously placed it there and waited for the right time to distract the Careers so Gale could get away. I'm sure the tracker jackers weren't part of that plan, but if Gale could have gotten away he knew where Kennie and Finnick were and could come back for them later. I only half believed Romal wasn't going to give it away when he let him escape and I could tell that Gale did too, but what was he supposed to do? Stay there and not at least try? If the Careers had turned around at that moment they would have seen all three of them and they would be utterly screwed no matter if Finnick had his trident or not. I still doubted that Finnick was top notch yet even after the medicine and they would probably go right for Kennie anyway. But they didn't turn around in time, and Romal didn't give it away. Instead all the Careers found when the turned was Romal with a smug smirk on his face.

"You idiot you let him get away?" Cashmere screams, stomping over to where Romal is standing.

"No, I turned when you did and he fled I guess." Romal insists, but they aren't buying it.

"You were supposed to keep watch!" Brutus exclaims, the anger painted on his face.

"I did watch." Romal informs truthfully and points in a random direction, "He went that way."

As soon as Brutus turns Romal brings his mace around but Cashmere warns Brutus in time and it only ends up grazing his leg, the blood still pouring out.

"You ass!" Brutus yells, "How could you let him get away!"

"Because he deserved it." Romal claims, "He's trying to save his child while you're trying to end her."

"But you hate him, or did you forget?" Cashmere claims, stalking towards Romal with knives at the ready to attack. Romal backs away slowly but doesn't let up on his glare.

"That's true and I still do." Romal claims much to my and their confusion. I mean it's not really a secret Romal doesn't like Gale even after all these years. It's probably the reason that Cashmere and Brutus let him in with them in the first place. But to still not like Gale and let him escape…it just doesn't make sense.

"Then what the fuck were you doing?" Cashmere asks, exasperated.

Romal gets a serious, angry expression and his tone is dripping with disgust. "Because I don't condone killing children, especially ones so young." He turns his glance for a moment to the two Career kids still hovering in the back for a moment and his tone softens before he turns back to them with a hard look again. "I do like someone trying to save one instead of killing them. Why do you think Finnick left?"

Cashmere and Brutus look taken aback at first, but then decide it's not worth arguing anymore. "Well you don't like killing children? It's time to kill you, or did you forget that only one person can win these Games?" Brutus claims with a dark laugh.

"I didn't forget. I'm saying that I'm choosing a child to win over me." Romal claims before the fight begins, my mouth dropped open in shock. He puts up a good fight but despite Brutus's wound he can't take on both at once for very long and Brutus's sword plunges into his chest after he's distracted by one of Cashmere's knives.

BOOM!

I am in utter and complete shock, and a pang of guilt and thanks goes through me for the man that I never really liked but he died to help the two people I love most. Why…and how…what just happened?

I hear a sigh behind me before hands come to rest on my tense shoulders in comfort. "He knew what he was doing Katniss." Cecilia's voice claims. I turn around in the chair to see a sad smile on her face.

"But…why?" I whisper, still utterly confused even now.

"Sometimes there are things worth dying for. You might not believe it, but Romal loves children more than anything and it absolutely disgusted him to see those children die every year. He couldn't take it anymore, especially after seeing that Cashmere and Brutus would do it. So he joined up with them in case anything like this happened." Cecilia claims, and in a way…well I guess it makes sense. I mean, he doesn't…didn't like Gale because Jacob was his son's best friend and he died partially because Gale didn't try to save him though I know that is one of the things that haunts his nightmares most. But to do it for Kennie…

Cecilia seems to know that I'm still bewildered by this act of kindness towards us, so she gives a weak laugh before explaining, "Katniss, he would have done it for any child they came across. It just happened to be yours first and Romal would have never backed down because he's still holding a grudge against Gale." I shake my head to clear it and it does the trick-I'm out of my shock and focused now, seeing the reason behind Romal's strange act. Of course he would let go of a grudge even if only for a few seconds to accomplish that goal. Why didn't I see that before? Who could really kill children?

Of course Cashmere and Brutus prove me wrong once again. Of course they could kill children-even those from their own districts. And they do-about an hour after the Romal thing the four of them are walking in the direction of where they thought that Gale could have gone (luckily the wrong direction), and with a glance and a nod the two of them obviously have agreed on something. The kids are in front of them walking and they creep up on them, slitting their throats to quickly end their short lives.

BOOM! BOOM!

Like a heartbeat, two more children are dead. If you weren't listening closely you might have been tricked into thinking that it was only one cannon they were so close together. Without even looking back Cashmere and Brutus walk around the small bodies and keep going with blank expressions that haven't changed while mine is one of disgust. Stupid heartless Careers. No wonder the rest of the districts hate them.

Johanna's POV

"Come on Duncan!" I whisper harshly, exasperated. It's bad enough that I had to team up with him and his kid from his district that he wouldn't abandon so that I could be sure that he would find Gale, Kennie, and Finnick (who better be with them). Now I have to actually deal with him for an extended period of time, crazy or not.

"But…what are these? They're so…flexible and cool. Can they pick up things?" Duncan questions in wander, studying his hands. I roll my eyes. God, why did we have to have a run in with mindsquitoes?

"They're your hands Duncan. And yes, they can pick up things." I assure him, annoyed. "And if you don't get your ass moving I'm going to use mine to strangle you."

"Fascinating." Duncan claims in awe, still looking at his hands and ignoring the last warning I gave him as I huff in frustration.

When we were at the river to cross in the jungle, me, the girl from his district, and Duncan, we accidentally ran into a sea of mindsquitoes. I only got a few bites and had enough sense to cross the river but I still don't remember what I probably forgot. Duncan tried to save the little girl from his district and got many bites as well as the girl. The girl crossed the river first and she got attacked by some sort of biting fish I'd guess, and she drowned from the bites. Duncan pulled her out to save her (with a few bites of his own) and I glanced down to see that I had a few too. Huh, I don't remember getting them. Maybe that's what I forgot. But when he went to get medicine out of his bag he took sight of his hands and forgot everything else, completely fascinated with them. And the girl died.

That was hours ago, and he's still forgotten what his hands are. I felt fine the whole time but I only have maybe one or two bites-Duncan got at least ten I'd bet. I hope he snaps out of it soon or I'm going to fucking snap and take them out with my axe to end the misery he's put me through. And we still haven't found them.

God Finnick, the last marker of leaves I found was probably a mile ago. Where the hell could they have gone? I know that they're probably in this forest; it's where Gale is in his element after all. And honestly, it's pretty much mine too though the trees are a little different. Which reminds me…

I climb the highest tree I can find, leaving Duncan on the ground studying his stupid hands still and once I get as high as I dare, I look around desperately. Where are you? And just when I'm about to give up, I catch sight of something-something shiny and I'd guess that it's Finnick's trident.

I do a bird call that Finnick and I agreed on and luckily the mockingjays pick up on it, and I hope that Finnick will do it back. Maybe three minutes later he does, and I do it back again as I climb down the tree to greet them.

We go back and forth for about twenty minutes until I sense them near and to Gale and Kennie's surprise they find me and Duncan. Finnick immediately envelopes me into a bear hug and I feel safer somehow.

"What's with him?" Gale asks and I pull out of the embrace to see what he's looking at. He's pointing to Duncan who's prodding at his hands with a look of awe, completely taken with them. I roll my eyes.

"Mindsquitoes." I answer. "Thank god you're here so I can get him off my back." That, and thank god we've found you and Kennie. Now the plans in motion again, and just in time too.


	40. Boom

Gale's POV

After walking for another hour or so (in which Duncan finally remembered what his hands were and Johanna had a good time teasing him about it and telling him all the threats that she luckily didn't go through with but if it happened again she might) the five of us arrive at the river that separates the woods from another landscape of the arena, something that appears to be a sort of beach by the way I can see water maybe a few miles away when I climb a tree. But after the piranhas that lurked in the last water we all crossed, none of us really feel like venturing across so close to dark for this one so we end up settling in two trees next to each other for the night. Johanna and Finnick are in one tree and Duncan, Kennie, and I are in the other. All of us have decided that we will take turns keeping guard, one from each tree all night (minus Kennie) but for now we eat dinner and whisper to each other from our neighboring trees.

Well, eat might not be the proper term. We do have food that I shot with my bow but Duncan has provided a much healthier alternative even if it isn't quite as good tasting. He got a nasty cut going for it too in the bloodbath-it's a protein powder of sorts he tells us, and one bottle a day mixed with water will get someone through the day. I was a bit skeptical at first but once Johanna confirmed it and took a sip of her own I decided (after she hadn't died in the immediate future) that it would be alright. It tasted vaguely of grapes but other than that it was pretty tasteless. But after I finished the bottle I felt fuller than I had since I started the Games so I decided not to argue with Duncan anymore about it. Clearly he knows what he was talking about.

As we're just finishing up our bottles the anthem comes on in the darkened sky and the first of the death toll is the kid from 1 followed right by the kid from two. Huh that's interesting. I almost sounded like it was just one cannon before but they must have happened at almost the exact same time. I can only believe that this was the doing of Cashmere and Brutus, mostly because I don't know who else is killing the kids but they were with them the whole time. The next picture up is the little girl from District 6 and Duncan sighs heavily at it, clearly still feeling guilty that his mind was overtaken by his forgotten hands thanks to mindsquitoes and he didn't try to help her get better any. But at least she didn't die at the hands of someone else; a small concession in these Games it appears for the kids. Speaking of which, how many kids are left? Well there's Kennie, but I think there's someone else too…oh right Beetee's nephew. I sort of forgot about him. Well, maybe that's good for him. If Cashmere and Brutus forget about him too then he'll live longer. Although I don't want to kill him myself…shit this is so hard!

The next face is unsurprisingly Romal's but I strangely feel a pang of guilt when I see it. I mean, what was that about anyway? But still, he did help us by letting us slip away from Cashmere and Brutus, so I do District 12's salute of thanks to him as the anthem plays again and fades into the night sky. I offer to take the first watch but Duncan insists he will and honestly I think it's because he needs to mourn or at least feel guilty about the girl from his district a little too much to sleep so with a sigh I sit against the tree trunk and pull Kennie against me before putting the sleeping bag I found in my backpack over us, drifting off to sleep as she does too.

As dawn approaches I wipe my tired eyes from where I've been guarding the last few hours and stir Duncan in the branch next to me before waking Kennie. When she does wake up and looks at me with groggy eyes I kiss her forehead and whisper with a smile, "Happy Birthday sweetie."

She cracks a grin through her sleepy state and is almost instantly wide awake at the thought. I can't help feeling a little smug about it though I know it's ridiculous. Half the reason that Snow made her wear that birthday dress at the interviews was a reminder to Katniss and I that Kennie would never turn seven because she wouldn't live to her birthday in this arena. I can't help but feel we should celebrate that fuck you as much as her birthday.

Obviously Katniss feels the same, because a few minutes later a parachute comes drifting down and Finnick catches it before looking inside, a smug grin as well as excitement plastered on his face as he sees the contents.

"Looks like we can really celebrate Kennie. Look." Finnick states, and tilts the sponsor gift towards us. I see a round cake in there with a happy birthday written on it and I have to smile as Kennie's face lights up and she smiles big. Duncan, Kennie, and I all climb down our tree and climb up Johanna and Finnick's so that we can eat the cake. We sing (quietly) to Kennie as she fake blows out candles on the cake and we quietly enjoy the cake and the anger Snow most likely feels at this celebration. This actually isn't very different from how we celebrate Kennie's birthday every year aside from the fact that we're in a tree in the arena and lots of other people aren't here, like Katniss. I feel a pang of sadness that she's not here with us but really, I wouldn't want her in the arena too. It's bad enough that all of us are and I don't want her to die either.

After we polish off the cake for breakfast feeling the sugar high take over, we decide to venture around the beach area. There's certainly not a ton of protection there but that can work the other way too, meaning we will be able to see anyone else coming. Of course it's alright until Johanna gets bitten by some sort of crab mutt that nips at her ankles, but then she and Duncan just cross the river (which we don't think has anything in it harmful) and puts on the same medicine that Finnick received yesterday. It still hurts her to walk but she'll manage.

Maybe an hour or two after Finnick has gathered some sort of seafood, clearly in his element another parachute drifts down. What's this? Another gift for Kennie? I would have thought that the cake took up most if not all the sponsor money but maybe the Capitolites liked the celebration. But when I open it up I'm confused. All it contains is a branch much like the trees we slept in. What's going on? Why would you send me a twig Katniss? It's not like it's helpful…unless this is a message. I call Finnick over and he comes with a bag full of seafood with a grin on his face.

"We have to leave." I tell him, and his face falls before becoming incredulous.

"Why? Just because you like the woods better doesn't mean-" Finnick starts, but I cut him off.

"No it's not that. Look." I order him, holding up the branch I got from the parachute. He gives me a really strange look.

"A twig. A twig is the reason we have to leave. Why would Katniss send you a twig anyway?" Finnick replies, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"It's a message obviously. I don't know why but she clearly wants us in that forest so I'm going." I exclaim and start walking that way pulling Kennie with me.

"Well alright but I think you're-" Finnick begins, but cuts himself off with wide eyes as he looks behind him. I look that way too and see what's making him stop in his tracks. It's a huge wave from what was once a calm ocean.

"Shit." Finnick says under his breath, "Run!"

As he sprints away I have no plans to stay here if he thinks it's so dangerous so I pick up Kennie and bolt for the forest after Finnick. When we run past the confused Duncan and Johanna Finnick screams run again and while they don't know what's going on they comply.

We run like mad, not even stopping when we hear the boom of a cannon go off. It's not any of us so we're not too worried at the moment and keep bolting through the forest. It's not until we get maybe three miles into the forest we stop, catching our breaths.

"What was that?" I ask through my heavy breathing.

"Tsunami. We have them sometimes in 4 but never like that. They cover everything with water." Finnick explains. Really? I climb up one of the nearby trees as high as I dare and find that Finnick is right. Incredulous, I climb back down and confirm his suspicions.

"The beach is gone. The water goes as far as I can see and stops where the forest begins I think." I claim.

"Well what do we do now?" Johanna questions and we all shrug in response.

"Guess we'll stay here or walk around." I offer, but I can't help the nagging feeling that this tsunami wasn't by chance. Katniss sent me that twig to get in the forest right before it. I don't know how or what's going on, but she knew something bad was going to happen to that beach.

"How about here for now? Johanna needs to rest if she wants to be able to walk around, because those crab pinchers have poison in them. I know of a plant that can suck the poison out but I need to look for it. I know it's in this forest though." Duncan suggests. I'm sort of surprised that he knows a plant that can suck out poison seeing as he's the real medicine guy, but maybe I shouldn't be. I mean, he probably started learning medicine somewhere, right? Maybe he ventured into a forest near District 6 and found plants first for his healing obsession.

"Sounds good." Finnick agrees, clearly feeling a little guilty that Johanna got hurt in his element.

"First though we should rehydrate with some protein powder. That cake won't be helpful for our energy in the long run." Duncan says, and we have to agree. The sugar high has long worn off as well as the adrenaline from running from the water and I feel exhausted. I don't know what that stuff is that he puts in our bottles but it definitely works.

Katniss's POV

I have to breathe a sigh of relief after they're safe in the forest. They'll have to leave by tomorrow into the jungle but for now they're alright. I almost had a heart attack when I saw them going to the beach earlier because I knew it was the next ring of land that would very soon be destroyed though I didn't know how and I couldn't have them there. I couldn't send a note but I needed to get the message to them somehow.

Nelia and Carper thought I was crazy, but I insisted that it would work. Chaff insisted that Gale sent me ridiculous things in my Games that no one else would think were messages but I knew exactly what they were and while still unconvinced they finally agreed to try. So with some of my leftover money after the cake and some of Carper's for Finnick, I sent Gale a branch that came from one of the trees in the forest ring of the arena. Just in time too, and with an almost smug expression when Gale figured it out almost immediately I felt a lot better. Let that be the last time someone ever doubts our communication skills.

After Gale climbed that tree and saw the destroyed ring of land covered in water he clearly knew that something was up and I knew that the beach would be destroyed, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't have it all figured out yet. Oh well, he probably will tomorrow when I send him something to go into the stupid jungle.

They all sip at their protein powdered water while they slowly walk in the direct that Duncan thought whatever plant he's looking for is, only stopping when it's clear Johanna can't walk much further on her own, even holding onto Finnick for support. All their bottles of water are gone at this point, and I had to laugh as Kennie didn't finish hers and threw most of the contents in the bush after making a sour face. She must not like the taste of it too much but doesn't say anything. I should be more angry that she won't be getting the nutrition she needs like the others but I guess it's alright for now. It's only one day anyway-she and Gale are going to need to separate from the others eventually.

Duncan offers to go off on his own to look for the patch he's sure is near and the others let him, but not before giving him a knife for protection just in case. Gale sets some snares (clearly not liking the protein powder as much as solid food) and Finnick helps Johanna sit against a tree as she tries not to grimace in pain. Her legs are turning a little green from the poison and I can tell Kennie tries not to look and instead tries to distract Johanna with endless childlike chatting. I can tell it annoys Johanna a little, but the distracting part seems to be working anyway.

Duncan has just found the patch he was looking for about twenty minutes later and goes about cutting off some of the plant when I freeze. Cashmere and Brutus have shown up and are stalking towards him. Oh crap. He turns just in time to see Cashmere throw a spear and moves just in time for it to graze him instead of hit him. He lets out a scream that echoes through the forest as the fight begins, him with only a knife.

The others hear the scream and look to each other with dread.

"Probably Cash and Brutus." Finnick predicts with a twisted face.

"Might be our best chance to take them down." Gale decides with a grimace and looks to Kennie. "Kennie, could you look after Johanna while we're gone? It will just be for a little bit." Kennie nods in agreement while Johanna rolls her eyes at the thought of having to be looked after by a seven year old and Finnick and Gale take their weapons and race in the direction Duncan went. What are you doing you idiot! Why would you leave her? I mean I get that this is a good opportunity and I don't want Duncan to die either. And it wouldn't be good to take her with him on this trip but still!

I frantically glance almost constantly between Gale and Kennie's screens, still angry that she's all alone with Johanna even if I don't actually believe Johanna will harm her in any way, especially since she can barely stand by herself. As Gale and Finnick make it to the clearing where Duncan is trying to fight for his life but losing Gale let's an arrow loose as Finnick throws his trident. The arrow only grazes Cashmere's arm but the trident sticks into Brutus's thigh. He pulls it out with a grunt as he's distracted and Cashmere still fights Duncan, clearly ignoring the blood coming out of her shoulder.

I glance back to Kennie's screen and see that she's still with Johanna, but a quiet little boy with glasses has creeped over-Albert. Johanna readies her ax but Kennie tells her to not throw.

"He won't hurt us, will you Albert?" Kennie says with childlike innocence that contrasts Gale's screen immensely.

"I don't plan on it. I just wanted to join up with you." Albert insists and I believe him.

"Go away kid." Johanna orders but doesn't harm him. Kennie shakes her head, clearly thinking she's in charge and tells Albert to stay.

BOOM!

I'm half frightened by the sound and look back to Gale's screen, where his face has twisted into one of anger and horror as Duncan has fallen to the ground with blood seeping from him. Duncan…he's…no.

Gale begins to fight Brutus with a new verve, clearly demanding revenge for the death of his friend. And I switch back to watching Kennie's screen as I hear Johanna say her name.

"Where are you going Kennie?" Johanna asks as Kennie walks over to something.

"Just looking. I think something's over here." Kennie states, creeping over to something that I can't see. But when she's more near it I see something shiny in the bush she's going over towards. Wonder what that is?

As she gets to whatever it is she was looking at, huge balls of twigs that are on fire race through the forest. Right towards them.

"Makenna!" I scream along with Johanna and Albert. Kennie looks up just in time to be hit with one of the burning balls, knocking her over and taking it with her. The fire takes over…

BOOM!


	41. Chaos

Katniss's POV

As the tablet in my hand goes black so does my mind. I'm blank. I can't breathe. I can't focus on anything at all. I can't think at all. All I can do is stare at the black screen in front of me for a moment that a moment ago was on and watching every move of my little girl.

She's…I can't think it. I can't say it. All I can do is be consumed by the horror, the depression immediately overtaking me and numbing me to the core.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Why did this happen? Why her? Why? Why? Why?

Makenna…she's…she's…

Dead.

Gale's POV

A cannon. Why a cannon? All four of us locked in battle here are still alive.

We all stop for a moment where we are, trying to figure it out. It could be Albert, Beetee's nephew or it could be Wheatie from District 9. There was a cannon earlier so it had to have been one of them, but could this be the other?

None of us buy that. So who is it? I freeze in horror and so does Finnick. He thinks it's for Johanna, who is currently poisoned and can't even stand too easily on her own, let alone fight. I have this dreading feeling that crashes into me that it's not. But if it's not Johanna then…no. I should have never left her alone for a second. Stupid me.

I have to get to her. I take advantage of the standstill and tackle Brutus to the ground, quickly ripping his throat with my knife.

BOOM!

I can't make myself feel bad. I'm a robot, my only drive to get back to Kennie and find her alive and well.

She better be.

Brutus was a heartless man anyway.

I race for where we left them, Finnick following me as Cashmere still tries to fight us. I run right for the trees when I see the hovercraft come. The person being lifted on the hovercraft makes me stand still in horror.

And then I'm falling, crashing down into a pit of darkness and I can't find it in myself to care.

I failed.

Beetee's POV

"The plan is going off perfectly." I assure the person in charge of this mission.

"Good." They nod back in approval. "How are her vitals?"

"Slow but she's alive. The powder combined with the spray will pull it off perfectly. She will be fine." I claim, still watching the real vitals on my screen from my seat on the hovercraft. Thank god Albert found them in time or he might not have been safe.

"Wait…what is that?" they ask in shock and anger after about thirty seconds. I look to see what they are talking about. Oh dear…that's not good at all.

Nelia's POV

"I can't get her to pay attention to me." I half panic. Katniss is totally in another world, completely taken over by the shock and depression that followed Kennie's cannon. I mean I can't blame her; I would be too.

"Mrs. Hawthorne?" Plutarch tries to get her attention. He came as soon as the cannon went off (I suspect he was nearer than he should have been) and we've been trying to get Katniss's attention ever since. "Would you like to see your daughter when the hovercraft comes in?"

We wait for a reply. Anything at all. With blank eyes she nods slightly and that's good enough for me. I help her up and Carper and I each take one of her arms and put them around our shoulders, and she leans heavily on us. She's like a zombie that I read about as a child. A scary story Teddy read to me at night when he was playing around, being a mean brother to give me nightmares. Half dead. Alive but in a very dead state at the moment.

Zombie Katniss walks with slow sluggish steps and I suspect she doesn't even really know what's going on. That's for the best anyway. Carper and I half carry, half drag her along with Plutarch behind us. We get almost down the hall when Plutarch says something alarming.

"What is that?" he asks as a panicked whisper, and I look back to what he's talking about. Commotion in the Mentor Room, peacekeepers filing in as gasps and screams fill the room. Oh great something obviously went wrong. Katniss is still completely oblivious to the world. Lucky her.

Plutarch whips out a syringe and quickly administers it to Katniss who almost immediately closes her eyes unconscious, slipping from our grasp. Carper takes her in his arms and holds her bridal style.

"Hey, where are you going?" a peacekeeper calls. Crap.

We all bolt with a few peacekeepers after us, trying desperately to get to our hovercraft.

This wasn't the plan at all.

Chaff's POV

This wasn't the plan. That powdered medicine that Duncan (may he rest in peace) gave to Makenna instead of the protein powder like everyone else was supposed to keep her pulse low enough for the cannon to go off and that worked. That spray, however, was supposed to keep it that way and her unconscious for at least an hour. What went wrong? Did she not drink all the medicine?

Certainly she wasn't supposed to wake up and call for her father while the District 13 hovercraft picked her up. Shit.

Mason's face goes white first and then the rage and panic take over, her wincing as she gets up and pushing past the poison to grab onto the ladder they quickly put down for her, taking the nephew with her. The shrieks and screams began with the chaos. Shit, what do you people not know about shutting the fuck up when a plan goes awry? Obviously nothing because the peacekeepers come barreling in and take in the scene on the center screen at once before it goes black, cutting off the access to the public.

Good thing we came prepared for anything. I silently take the gun which I taped under the table of my station and slip it in my pocket before walking over to the door, trying not to get the peacekeepers attention. Once there I lock and bolt it. Now I have their attention.

They pull their guns on me no sooner than I point mine at them.

"Unless you want to die, surrender. We do not want any deaths in here." the head of the peacekeeper squad orders.

I give him a dark laugh. "In case you haven't noticed no one in here is a stranger to death. We've all been forced to become killers and now we have no problem with it. So I suggest that you should be the ones to surrender."

The peacekeepers look taken aback, but once they look around they find how right I am and even they get a hint of fear on their faces. All those involved with the rebellion have pulled out their hidden weapons and guns while the rest simply look shell shocked. Those of us with weapons almost match in number the peacekeepers. The head peacekeeper looks back at me and I give him a smirk.

"We aren't afraid of death if it means rebellion for a greater good." I assure him. "Are you?"

He doesn't answer immediately but I can tell he's about to start firing. I beat him to it and he falls to the ground. The firing begins immediately, the Mentor Room becoming the Death Room.

Seems appropriate given that's what you always watch in this fucking room.

Johanna's POV

Well shit that wasn't supposed to happen. As soon as I'm on board the hovercraft I let the kid go and I fall as the ladder drops me, not able to use my legs from the damn poison.

"What the hell happened?" I half yell to the one in charge of this whole breakout as a medic eases on some sort of medicine that takes away the burning and stinging in my legs, and I can slowly feel the movement coming back to them.

"She didn't have enough of it. But as long as we can get out of here we'll be fine. It made a perfect picture and that was the important part." they tell me, and I grudgingly have to agree.

As the fire ball let up and left Kennie with what looked like burns but were actually just the marks left because of the shiny ball she found that sprayed her with anti-burn medicine, she lied 'dead' in the ashes of whatever the fire left. And when she woke it make the perfect picture of the rebellion.

A phoenix rises from the ashes. Makenna is the girl that was born of fire. Makenna is the phoenix who 'died' from fire and rose again from the ashes. It's the perfect metaphor for what will happen to Panem. Panem rose from the ashes of rebellion before; now it will do it again and these fucking Hunger Games, Snow, and everything else which his power has permitted will cease and a new country will rise that will be for everyone's good.

"What…what happened?" Kennie asks as a medic wipes off the ashes and 'burns' from her skin, leaving her anew and the bright clean seven year old girl she is.

"We'll tell you later. Promise." the person in charge assures her, and leads her away.

Snow's POV

Anger. Rage. Unbelieving.

How did I let this happen? No, how did they let this happen? One this is for certain; people will pay for this.

"Well?" I ask in annoyance the Commissioner of Peacekeepers, my patience gone. It left with the damn phoenix of a little girl.

"We have good news and bad news sir." The Commissioner states formally and I sigh.

"Tell me the bad news first." I insist. Might as well get this one over with.

"They have the phoenix, her mother, and others." He tells me. Well, it's what I expected.

"What's the good news?" I ask next, not dwelling on the bad. I have plenty of time to hatch a plan to get my revenge on them once he leaves.

"We have three of the tributes in custody sir." the Commissioner informs me. Good news indeed.

"Who?" I question him, and as he tells me I can't say that I'm too sad about it. Oh yes, we can work with this.

"Very well, I'm pleased by that at least. Anything else?" I ask, but really I hope there isn't because I would very much like to get started on this plan of mine.

"Yes sir. We have the leader of the rebellion here in the Capitol with us now." he informs and I smile.

"Oh good. Bring them in." I order and with a nod he goes to the door to retrieve them. When his back is turned I place a poisoned pill from my desk drawer silently in the tea pot and allow it to spread into the tea before I look up to the traitor.

Of course. I cannot trust anyone around here to get the Hunger Games right, now can I? I already killed off Seneca for his poor influence on his Gamemakers last year that resulted in no Victor and now look. The leader of the rebellion has been right under my nose all year.

"Horatia, please sit." I exclaim politely as she is shuffled in by peacekeepers with chains on her hands. "Those aren't necessary, I assure you." I tell the peacekeepers and they obey me and take them off as Horatia does what I say, glaring at me with hostility the whole time. I dismiss the peacekeepers and once we're alone I match her glare.

"Why Horatia? You had everything you wanted. No need for a rebellion, now is there?" I question her, waiting for an answer.

"There's most definitely reason. I did this more for others than myself." She insists, and I offer her tea. She accepts though she looks like she doesn't want it and I stir my own tea (of which I poured before I poisoned the pot).

"Ah selfless reasons then." I concede. She takes a sip of her tea and I try not to smile, "Do you know what selflessness gets us Capitolites?" I ask and she begins to choke, holding her neck. After a minute the fast acting poison takes over and she slumps over, dead.

"Death." I tell the corpse, and saunter out of my office to work on my plans.

Katniss's POV

The darkness has taken over; somehow that seems appropriate. Am I dead? I sort of want to be. I mean, think of all the people that are already dead in my life that shouldn't be; Dad, why did you have to work in the mines? Why did you leave us helpless and me in charge at the tender age of eleven? Rue, you shouldn't have even been in the Games and you died in my arms. I won for you. Vick, I'm so sorry. You have no idea how guilty I feel over your death. And all the tributes we didn't save. All of you, I'm so sorry.

Madge…Rye…Nelia's brother…all the others who starved or died in accidents in the district. It wasn't directly my fault but somehow it feels like it was. Haymitch…god Haymitch why did you have to go and die on us mere weeks before the Games? I mean I know it was probably Snow's doing but I can't help but be angry and guilty at the same time. I wished for your death in the Games and it came to you sooner than that. I'm half ashamed I asked. Seeder, Electra, all those who died in the most recent Games. I'm so sorry you were there because of Snow's revenge on us. And…

Kennie.

Maybe I do want to be dead after all. Maybe I deserve it after all this death I was the cause of.

I open my eyes to a bright light and blink a few times until my vision clears. Once it does I see that I'm in a sort of hospital room and I sit up on the bed. Before I can even look around a small warm body has thrown themselves into my arms.

"Mommy!" Kennie cries, burying herself into me as I hold her tight, relieved that she's there again. I don't even care that I'm dead. I look around and see others dead like me I think. I have to be dead, but this is a strange place to be.

Madge is there but strangely enough she's obviously pregnant and looks older than I remember(can you be pregnant when you're dead?) and I see Rye next to her while next to them are Prim, Rory, and my mother. What are they doing here? Oh god, Snow probably killed them too. Nelia and Carper are there as well with guilty smiles on their faces and I have to wonder what happened there. The last thing I remember is Kennie's screen going black. Johanna's there too with a smirk on her face as always. A Capitol man is there as well which confuses me because I don't know him. What is he doing here? If I'm dead then it should only be people I know greeting me in death, not him. But still, I have to be. I have to ask just to make certain.

"I'm dead." I state, and they all look at each other before shaking their heads.

"You're not. None of us are." Madge insists and I look at her in confusion.

"But…what about…and…" I stutter, standing up and looking around at all the faces in the room. But they're dead. But they claim they're not. Am I going crazy? Am I dreaming? Well I pinch myself and I'm definitely awake though I might still be crazy. But if we aren't dead…

I suddenly smile and pick Kennie up and kiss her all as she squeals. She's alive. Kennie's alive and we're not in the arena! I don't even know where we are but we're obviously alright and safe for now.

"Where's Gale?" I ask. It's strange that he's not here. Aside from Kennie he's the first person I would have thought of and wanted me to see. More looks of dread and my heart sinks.

"We're in District 13, Katniss." My mother states, avoiding the question. District 13? Oh well I'll ask that later; I need an answer.

"Where is he?" I state, making it an order.

"The Capitol. We broke out of the arena." Johanna informs me. I'm going to break if they don't tell me. Or maybe I'll break when they do.

"What…" I begin again, but then I get it. Gale isn't here because they didn't get him. The Capitol has him. Snow has him.

My eyes go wide in shock before the anger takes over and I'm about to scream when something stops me short when I hear a familiar voice behind me.

"So ya figured it out, did ya sweetheart?"

I don't hesitate to lunge at him and try to rip off his skin with my fingernails. I know I drew blood before I was taken over by the darkness again.

Maybe it's for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The trequel, Phoenix, is now up.


End file.
